Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. What Makes you Not a Buddhist. Shambhala Editions, 2006.
A renowned Buddhist teacher in Asia and in the West, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche is also well known as a filmmaker (The Cup, Travelers and Magicians). What Makes you Not a Buddhist, his first book, creates a stir without even going beyond its title. While most books on or about Buddhism concern themselves with how to be Buddhist, how to carry out a practice, or what it may mean to be a Buddhist, this book presents itself as a challenge of sorts.
Wonderfully written, contemporary in its references as it is traditional in its examples, Not a Buddhist lays it down plain and simple. “I feel a little discontented when Buddhism is associated with nothing beyond vegetarianism, nonviolence, peace, and meditation.” DK Rinpoche relays. He offers that to be a Buddhist an individual must accept the following four truths, or “four seals” in the sense of “seal” as a hallmark that confirms authenticity:
All compounded things are impermanent.
All emotions are pain.
All things have no inherent existence.
Nirvana is beyond concepts.
And just nodding in agreement with the “four seals” is not enough, for they must be arrived at through a full understanding/experience of their literal meaning. These are not metaphorical terms of reference that may or may not apply to us. They apply to all things, and the acquisition of “wisdom” through which one comes to this understanding is a result of “right view.” “Right view” is what determines motivation and action. Briefly, what makes one a Buddhist or not.
If you cannot accept that all compounded or fabricated things are impermanent, if you believe that there is some essential substance or concept that is permanent, then you are not a Buddhist.
If you cannot accept that all emotions are pain, if you believe that actually some emotions are purely pleasurable, then you are not a Buddhist.
If you cannot accept that all phenomena are illusory and empty, if you believe that certain things do exist inherently, then you are not a Buddhist.
If you think that enlightenment exists within the sphere of time, space, and power, then you are not a Buddhist.
Why DK Rinpoche goes as far as to say that if one follows the “four seals” one can be a Buddhist even while idolizing Eminem or Paris Hilton!!! Even so, think about it as you wrap those brand new "Buddha beads" around your wrist, or place the coloured resin Buddha statue on the window-sill to catch the light just so!
reviewed by pv
