Donald Trump’s outrageous character is at odds with Buddhist beliefs. And that matters because it is just not enough to call him a bad person anymore. As if the attacks on minorities such as Muslims, African Americans and Latinos weren’t enough, the recently leaked ‘locker-room’ banter video speaks to his markedly vitriolic campaign (nevermind, all the other horrible things he has done to many, many women. Many.) Not only will we have a national disaster if he is elected president, but he is sure to fall lower and lower in morality. Do us all a favor, Mr. Trump and read up on Buddha's teachings.
The hallmark of 5th century Buddhism was the belief that things are constantly in flux, that they are impermanent. This was wholescale rejection of the Hindu belief at the time that equated brahman (everything in the universe) with atman (the self) – the famous saying goes “tat tvam asi” or “Thou art that” and “You are that.”
The late upaanisads had established that the atman was eternal, unchanging and non-suffering. Which to Buddha couldn’t be true if things were constantly changing because that meant that your situation was always changing. He formulated his Four Noble Truths on the basis that, because there was impermanence, there was always change and that suffering was a part of life because life was always changing.
The cause of suffering, according to the Second Noble Truth, is clinging. Mr. Trump cannot deny that this resonates with his present state of being. He clings to money, he clings to power, he clings to real estate, he clings to the Wall, he clings to China, he clings to the Middle East, he clings to hatred, he clings to misogyny, he clings to racism, he clings to bigotry and he clings to Clinton’s e-mails.
He buys into his desires, like his tendency to deliver cavalier retorts on national television for just about everything to just about everyone, just to make himself feel a certain way (whatever that way is). At the last presidential debate, he threatened to jail Hilary Clinton. He has previously suggested that his supporters exercise their second amendment rights to protect the very amendment. And it seems just about every day, new instances of Trump-related aggression surface news outlets.
He needs help. The Third Noble Truth seems promising because it states that clinging has an end. It ends when one follows the Eight-Fold path, according to the Fourth Noble Truth, the Middle Path. This is how one can end one’s suffering. Be moderate. Be of neither extreme. Be one who does not cling because thence you will achieve true liberation. This is the end to all suffering. Perhaps the greatest mystery of 5th century Buddhism was its lack of elaboration on how exactly one deals with suffering, in other words, how does one cope. One way to think about it is that there are spiritual ages, that spiritual adults are able to figure out the path to liberation because they have found ways to cope with it. Kind of like how educated adults have figured out how to censor themselves to avoid hurting others. A spiritual child is prone to bouts of “hangriness” because of a lack of self-restraint. Yeah, this already sounds like him.
