Thanks Alysia. My inclination is to park it too as the info will probably come with time. The fact that it hooks up with a snatch of experience from last year implies that it probably has meaning, but I'm not sure what. She seemed so very down, maybe she needs a leg up to unstick her. Either way I got nowhere last night - I was on the way, even getting the physical vibes TMI talk about but something caused me to pop back. Like yourself it's a rare experience for me although that's two nights in a row with some action...
If its to happen it'll happen.
On the Buddhist view of emotion. As ever its (as best I understand it) finely nuanced, and avoids extremes. (the 'middle way' again)
My experience of Tibetan teachers is that they generally embody a very beautiful lightness, openness, humour and caring quality of being without a shred of that rose tinted over emotionality we often get into. To the point where you have to say 'I'd like some of that too please'. As a path it's certainly helped me to unravel a long series of very painful knots in my life.
I can't guarantee that you won't find an unemotional Buddhist, or even a sizeable group as in the case of other traditions. I can't guarantee either that you won't either come in contact with what you could call over serious Buddhists, even more so in the West - some get far too serious about their observance and unconditional reverence for teachers.
A fundamentalist tendency is a fundamentalist tendency wherever you go I guess. But at least in Buddhism it's diametrically opposed by the teaching. Try for example Chogyam Trungpa's 'Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism' if you'd like a look at this.
Lightening and opening to ultimately become an embodiment of compassion (love) is at the centre of the higher teachings in Buddhism - the Mahayana and Vajrayana views. They position it as the natural and unavoidable consequence of higher consciousness. It's embodied in the Bodhisattva ideal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva . It starts as an aspiration requiring practice (like tonglen which I've spoken of before) but becomes a state of being motivated by the welfare of others.
The tendency to slate Buddhism as unemotional seems to have originated with early Western commentators who maybe mistook the cultural tendency in some some parts of the East towards a certain inscrutability as being somehow Buddhist, or had a racial, religious, national, cultural or other axe to grind - something which seems to continue in some quarters.
Zen Buddhism didn't cover itself in glory in Japan in WW2, but then i suppose neither did Christianity. Both situations I think were much more a reflection of the consciousness of the peoples concerned than any adherence to core teaching.
I'd argue too that much of what's perceived as 'Buddhist' behaviour is actually more of a reflection of the local culture.
Buddhism (mahayana anyway which is the variety I know a little about) does take a cautious view of emotion which i've touched on before. Specifically there are good emotions, and bad emotions. There's also the view that very strong emotions imply too much attachment to their object, and that they lead to suffering and wrongdoing. Especially in the case of the kleshas or negative emotions - namely desire, anger, ignorance, pride and jealousy.
Absence of emotion is not however desirable, it's in effect the feedback mechanism of our mind and especially your heart. Without it you're lost.
The positive or maturing emotions - kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and serenity (aspects of love I guess you would say) are regarded as something to be cultivated - initially as above through mindful practice, but eventually as a state of mind.
Buddhism has been criticised for not being pro-active enough on social inequality too, but I think that stems from the thought that direct action rarely does good. That as i've written about before it produces just an opposite reaction and an escalation. That the way forward is the raising of consciousness. Our record of go-getting intervention and economic development in the West is probably not so good in the eyes of the 'helped', and may prove disastrous (climate etc) for us all. Starting with the crusades...
I'm not a Buddhist per se, but my sense is that there's great scope for a step forward in the mingling of Western mind and Buddhist teaching...
ian
Here's an excerpt from a lecture on the subject of emotions delivered by the Dalai Lama in Dehli in 2004:
'It would not be correct to say that we should have no emotions. A person without emotions is a person without feeling. He is apt to be dry, distant, cold, friendless, negative and vicious. The important thing is not to harbour negative emotions.
Negative emotions are emotions that are immature, narrow and cloudy. For example, attachment and hatred are two such negative emotions. When a person sees the world through the prism of attachment, he would conclude that whatever he does is 100% right. And when he sees someone else through the prism of hate, he would conclude that whatever the other person does is 100% wrong. Nothing in Nature is 100% right or wrong. Such a perception is merely a mental projection, that distorts our appreciation of Reality, creating more problems.
Positive emotions are mature emotions because here emotion is combined with intelligence. The application of intelligence leads to analysis and investigation. Analysis leads to conviction. The disciplining of emotion leads to a holistic vision of Reality. Everything is interconnected. If one fails to see the interconnectedness and interdependence, then it is a distorted vision. Examples of positive emotions are faith and Compassion, which can be imbibed only through a training of emotions.
Knowledge leads to conviction. Conviction leads to determination. Determination leads to familiarization. Familiarization leads to change of emotion. The main attempt must be have a clear vision so that we can see Reality as it truly is. Only then can we solve the problems of life.
Cultivation of positive and noble emotions leads one towards Compassion, Contentment, Forgiveness and Self-discipline, in turn producing a calmness of Mind. When there are no ripples in the Mind, it remains clear in its vision of Reality. It sees a problem as it really is and is able to solve it easily. Problems would then be unable to disturb Peace of Mind. But if the Mind is weak, if it is assailed by fear and doubt or too much of unbridled emotion, it would find it difficult to face the arduous problems of life.
Life is bound to be full of problems. Even if there are no other problems, one's own body suffers from the problems of illness, decay and death. If problems are an integral part of our existence, we have to be fully prepared to face these with calmness, placidity and fortitude.'
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