A senior British Buddhist teacher called upon American Buddhists today to get off their meditation cushions and support campaigns to get Donald Trump out of the White House.
Christopher Titmuss, author of numerous books on mindfulness, meditation and global issues, wrote in his blog this week that Buddhists have to asked themselves:
“Is it wisdom or a delusion to send loving kindness to Donald Trump?"
He continues: “Buddhists try to keep faith with their practice of loving kindness (called‘metta’ in the Buddhist language). There is a place for this but not at the expense of addressing bigger issues.”
Buddhists worldwide read the weekly blog and Facebook pages of Titmuss. In his blog, he asked Buddhists:
“Are these loving kindness meditations a way for Buddhists to experience a feel good factor when seeing on TV the US president or reading his latest violent tirade in the media, often gleaned from his daily Twitter?
“Even if all 500 million Buddhists in the world and the three to four million Buddhists in the USA sent metta to Trump, it is hard to image that it would make a scrap of difference to the mind-set of the US President.”
He encourages Buddhists to enquire: “Is the directing of loving kindness to Donald Trump going to make any difference to his policies, his personal behaviour towards women and men or his racism?"
A former Buddhist monk, Titmuss travels to three continents a year offering retreats and workshops on mindfulness, insight meditation and right action. He is the founder of an Agents of Change programme in Germany and Israel. His blog lists some of Trump’s policies and threats on North Korea, Paris Accord, Muslims, Africans and domestic issues.
In his blog, Titmuss writes: “US Buddhists need to speak out, join meetings, write letters to congressmen, senators, judges and the media to demand the end of the Trump presidency.
“The President of the United States is emotionally and mentally unfit for office. He needs help. He needs counselling. He needs medication. Help to make this happen. Traumatised, isolated and angry, he carries on struggling to survive while in the last decade or so of his life, Donald Trump needs everyone to come to his aid.
“His reactivity and tirades show the intensity of his demands for attention. We are witnessing the neediness of a desperately lonely man.
“US Buddhists show an authentic loving kindness to President Trump by saving himself from himself. He simply cannot handle the role as President of the United States and self-appointed head of the free world. He cannot handle the pressure, so he gets relief through his rants and authorising dangerous political policies generating despair for large numbers of people within the USA and overseas.
“We are currently witnessing worldwide the greatest humanitarian disasters in human history – endless wars, famines, floods, earthquakes, fires, deforestation and so on.
“We need wise and compassionate leadership.”
Titmuss lives in Totnes, Devon, England.
Christopher Titmuss, is a senior Buddhist teacher in the West. A former Buddhist monk, he is the author of numerous books on mindfulness, meditation and global issues. Poet, blogger and social critic, he lives in Totnes, Devon, England.
