Byrd's Chicks

Angry Asuras, or Attention, Walmart Shoppers

Just when I thought there were no demons in the world..... something like the incident at the Long Island Walmart (where an employee died) happens.

http://tinyurl.com/56qgb7
http://tinyurl.com/5opfv3

Wow. Someone's Christmas toy became, for the space of a few moments, worth more than a human life.

There are several articles out on the web about how this could have been prevented, many having merit. And I could rant about consumer culture being fatal. But I won't, for the moment.

From a Buddhist perspective, I suppose it isn't too surprising. Humans have been beset by the three poisons for eons......

Greed: "I've got to get that new ipod before anybody else - they might run out!"

Ignorance: "I had no idea that someone had been knocked down.... anyway, I didn't see it happen, so it's not my responsibility."

Anger:"I've been in line for over 6 hours! Get out of my way!"

It's also a horrifying example of the lower of the ten worlds - all the greed, thoughtlessness, and thrashing anger of a hungry ghost, asura and animal rolled into one ghastly pack of Walmart shoppers tearing down doors.

The tragic culmination of all of these poisons in a New York parking lot has jarred me into revisiting how I think and view the world, and left me wondering what Buddhism could possibly provide as an antidote for such toxic poisons.

I know I've "rushed the door" sometimes metaphorically, personally, and steamrolled people in my life, blinded by greed, anger or ignorance.

For me, chanting provides the laboratory in which I can examine myself and reveal the ten worlds within myself. I can then work to make the better parts stronger, and acknowledge the lower parts and redirect them to ways they can serve all humans more constructively (rather than just serving the "me" - the ego and bag of bones I identify as myself).

(Ah, jeesh. Now I've set myself up for some Frankenstein analogies.... but I digress).

Anyway, I am also hoping that by sharing the notions of the ten worlds, and three poisons, with others, and by encouraging others to chant, or meditate, or even to just be more mindful more often, perhaps, just perhaps, they can mend their own personal Frankensteins and strengthen their inner boddhisattvas, just as I endeavor to do, and do the same for others.

Maybe it's not enough, a Band-aid on a gunshot wound, but if the historic Buddha could have stopped a raging bull elephant once, perhaps a few peaceful individuals at large can begin to sooth the savage mob. I can always hope.

What do you think? Can Buddhism really serve to help in this 21st century world?