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Don't suffer fools gladly?
FoibleFull
Canada Veteran
in Philosophy
I have heard two Zen Buddhists say that they don't suffer fools gladly ... said as if this was a good thing.
With my tradition being Tibetan Buddhism (my teacher is a lama), at first I was shocked as this seemed so very non-compassionate. I thought "Harumph! What kind of Buddhist are they?"
But when I heard a second one say this, I began to wonder if this was a "short-hand" way of getting across some idea.]
Perhaps there is a story that this concept ties into. Perhaps it is only that I do not understand what this means to Zen Buddhists.
If anyone knows, please "enlighten" me. Thanks.
With my tradition being Tibetan Buddhism (my teacher is a lama), at first I was shocked as this seemed so very non-compassionate. I thought "Harumph! What kind of Buddhist are they?"
But when I heard a second one say this, I began to wonder if this was a "short-hand" way of getting across some idea.]
Perhaps there is a story that this concept ties into. Perhaps it is only that I do not understand what this means to Zen Buddhists.
If anyone knows, please "enlighten" me. Thanks.
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For example: I dislike anchovies. I mean I really don't like them. If someone, as an offering at lunch, were to put anchovies in front of me, I would probably eat them. But that doesn't change the fact that I don't like them and I feel no inclination to pretend or aspire to a great love of something I dislike. Simultaneously, I also would never suggest that because I dislike anchovies, everyone else should or could feel the same.
And it is the same with fools. The yardstick I try to keep in mind as regards people I consider to be fools was spelled out for me by an army chaplain who once gave our platoon one of those endlessly boring training lectures the military is fond of. In the midst of his talk, he remarked, off-handedly, "If a man gets up and says anything -- anything at all -- there will always be 20 good men to stand up behind him." Of course living a life according to what the majority or even a large number of people say is pretty thin tea, but as a social yardstick, it may have some uses. The once-popular bumper sticker is also a good reminder: "Don't believe everything you think." This is not an invitation not to think -- it is an invitation to keep a close eye on believing what you think.
To enter into meditation is, in one sense, to move from the limited to the unlimited ... an activity whose directions point towards the widest possible expression of individual existence, so to speak. We practice and in so doing, attend to the limited attachments that can trip anyone up. Deeper and deeper we go, wider and wider we get... not in some static, shazzam, sense but in a living, breathing experience. And the wider we get, the more our narrowness is seen not so much as something to believe, but simply as part and parcel of what, for lack of a better word, is sometimes called unlimited. It is not an excuse for immoral or self-serving behavior ... it is just a more wide-screen existence. "Wide" and "narrow," "limited" and "unlimited" are not so necessary to believe. Possible? Yes. Necessary? No.
For those inclined to scripture (which I generally dislike quoting), Gautama is alleged in The Dhammapada to have said about fools (sorry if I haven't got the quote bang on): "His heart is restless after many flowers./Before he can pick them all, he is dead." Anyone can recognize his or her own foolishness in the quote. D'oh. But to be downhearted or critical on account of a "limited" meditation or an endless "foolishness" is not so much the point. Practice leads anyone who sticks with it into the very foolish world he or she may have sought in some way to escape through practice in the first place. The object of practice is not to escape being a fool, but rather to be an attentive and responsible fool ... over and over and over again. Be a fool ... wholeheartedly. If a mistake is made, correct it. Over and over again.
Do I suffer fools gladly? Nope. Foolishness deserves to be noticed and called out whether within or without. And if I make a mistake, I hope I will have the good grace and common sense to correct it. Sometimes I can. Sometimes not.
What is anyone to do short of living a whole-hearted life in this fool's paradise?
Sorry for the ramble.
Buddhism is about rescuing the drowning, but you don't want them to drag you down. Still there is the Bodhisattva vow which some have taken, not me yet.
Should you now be considered a fool, toxic or a precious jewel? :scratch:
~Beetles
Everyone is a fool. Everyone needs to be respected. Those who don't suffer fools gladly have just not yet met themselves.
Your definition of respect is undoubtedly more accurate than mine.
I use it in a Dharmic sense as a reminder.
When I use the word respect I think of it as facing someone fully, recognizing their innate Buddha nature and letting meditation take the lead.
Of course just an hour before I used the word F***wits to describe to my partner some of my days interactions.
Hhhhmmmm.
So, for example, mass murderers would not earn my respect. Child molesters would not earn my respect. Mitt...oh, forget about that one.
I've always felt that respect needs to be earned. So when I first meet someone, for me it is a blank slate. What they do from that point forward determines whether they receive my respect or my disdain, or something in between.
And, I must admit I have been wrong about people. I remember a counselor who came to our school. I had an immediate and intense dislike for him. Later, we became friends, and I now think very highly of him. And, it was my misjudgement that caused the problem.
It is also very easy to be distracted by even very normal life experiences. We have to guard our companionship, sense doors and intake.
The great Saints, Bodhisattvas would hang out with human dross (there is even hope for me), corpses and imaginary friends. Only a fool would try to imitate their behaviour prematurely.
Be kind to The Fool, they too wish to be happy . . .
The next level of investigation is; why do I dislike those people; what do they trigger in me; what is it that I wish to avoid.
The talk went on about how we all feel worthless deep inside; and how we don’t want to be there; and cover that up with lies about what we are (advanced spiritual people maybe?).
When we have the courage to face the truth though, next thing we are ready for entering into the abyss of being nothingness.
I’m not going to repeat the whole speech, but I think you get the idea.
Maybe those Zen Buddhists were joking; maybe they were shallow; I don’t know.
I have met people who strike me as extremely foolish in some particulars and extremely wise in others. We are all a mixture of innate wisdom on the one hand and faulty learning on the other.Everyone we meet literally embodies some wise or foolish aspect of our selves.
The Sufi saints regularly refer to themselves as idiots or fools. In part this is because in the eyes of the worldly they are madmen, another appellation they use.