On Buddhist Cancel Culture

“Disagreement is necessary in deliberations among mortals. As the saying goes, the more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us is right.”  —Steven Pinker

     NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: I am not a Nazi. I am not a fascist either…unless the beliefs of the American founding fathers (minus slavery and universal Christianity) constitute fascism. However, I am not a cultural Marxist, and so regardless of all else, to cultural Marxists, I am practically a Nazi anyhow.
     I should also add that I showed this post to my friend Brian, also known affectionately as "BDawg," and he has corrected a few statements that I made below. For starters, certain Jewish people, according to him, are not collaborating with space aliens to control the human race; rather, they are collaborating with "repterrains," a kind of more or less alien reptilian that lives here on earth. Also he says he no longer denies the Holocaust or endorses Adolf Hitler, though I suspect this may be mainly because such language when publicized is a magnet for trouble.
     Also, I am not implying in what follows that the followers of venerable Ajahn Punnadhammo are Marxists. Probably very few of them, if any, are Marxists. But the point remains that considering fascism, but NOT communism or Marxism, evil and genocidal is totally mainstream to the point of appearing plainly factual, when really this is the result of propaganda and subtle mass indoctrination. And I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the Ajahn.

     This post is a reflection on two little events in my life that occurred just a few days ago. One little event involved my friend Brian Ruhe calling me at work. He informed me that venerable Ajahn Punnadhammo had just contacted him regarding the videos he had been making with us. It turned out that he had agreed to being a guest of honor and question-answerer on one of Brian’s UFO meetup groups; and as a consequence of that he had received a wave of negative feedback from his supporters because of his willingness to communicate with a known Nazi. As a response to this he told Brian that he reluctantly would refrain from appearing on videos with him in future, at least for awhile, until the little storm of protest had subsided, or some such. The Ajahn was apologetic, and was withdrawing from our occasional videos mainly because a monk, especially one living in a western, non-Buddhist country, has to keep his lay supporters in good humor. So Brian was rather sad about this happening, naturally, as all three of us enjoyed making the videos, and Brian much appreciates conversing with serious Buddhists, especially monks. But he is a Nazi, and an antisemitic Holocaust denier, and so a great many western Buddhists believe he should be shunned, banned, and silenced, in Buddhist circles anyhow.

     I have received complaints about being in videos with Brian myself. Just recently at least two people left comments to the effect that I shouldn’t have anything to do with him, and one suggested that Brian should be excommunicated from all Buddhist groups—because of course he’s a NAZI. But I have never really cared all that much about public opinion, and I know that Brian, bless his heart, is a sincere and knowledgeable Buddhist who does not condone hatred or violence. I suggested to the commentator wishing for Brian’s excommunication that if Nazis are excommunicated, then perhaps so should Marxists and radical leftists in general, since history has shown that Marxism and its ilk are worse than all the various kinds of fascism combined, simply going with the amount of corpses generated by each system. In response to this the commentator wished me well and now knows to avoid my videos, evidently because I’m a Nazi also.

     Anyway, the second little event that inspired this post involved another friend of mine, who also was an American monk in Asia but who is now a layman in the USA. He texted me asking if I knew about Ajahn Sujato. I said I’d heard of him but didn’t really know who he is. My friend then replied that he is rather an opinionated blowhard who endorses Black Lives Matter, and who deletes any mention of my Atthakavagga translation, and possibly of me also, from Sutta Central, a website/forum that he manages—because, of course, I am well known to be a Nazi too. I’d heard of Sutta Central, and have even looked at it a few times. My friend urged me to challenge him to a debate, expressing the sincere wish that I would totally “pwn” that venerable one. This friend and also Brian have allowed that Ajahn Sujato, despite his leftist indoctrination, has written some really informative stuff about early Buddhism; on the other hand, Brian pointed out to me that ven. Sujato is the “right hand man” of Ajahn Brahm in Australia, the monk who was banished from his own Ajahn Chah tradition for taking upon himself the authority of Gotama Buddha to ordain Theravada Buddhist nuns, or bhikkhunis, in a politically correct manner.

     So in the matter of 48 hours I have been informed that both Brian and I are essentially banned from western Buddhism in various ways—Brian from appearing in public with one of the few monks willing to appear with him in public, and I from being referenced on Sutta Central…because we are “Nazis.”

     With all due respect to Brian, I suppose he really is a Nazi. He is an admirer of Adolf Hitler, and denies the historical account of the Holocaust. He also considers Jews to be instrumental in the recent and current attempts to establish a “woke” Brave New World Order. For that matter he believes some Jews to be conspiring with certain space aliens to control the human race. But despite his strange beliefs, many of which I find rather hard to swallow, he is, as I say, a conscientious Buddhist who does not endorse hatred or violence. But “hate speech” obviously does not necessarily involve any hatred on the part of the person who speaks it: “hate speech” is any speech that leftists and/or globalists hate.

     All this has got me thinking about so-called Cancel Culture and censorship, and its relation to Buddhism. Clearly, Buddhism has always supported some element of shunning heretics and bad monks. I even agree that people who disapprove of a monk’s behavior or views have every right to stop supporting him. Also, there is a formal act of suspension from the Sangha, which is never exercised in the modern world that I know of, which deprives a monk of his good status and right to associate with other monks, though even the Sangha does not have the right to excommunicate and defrock him outright; and a monk may be suspended in this way if he 1) has pernicious wrong views, 2) refuses to acknowledge and rectify his violations of the monastic rules of discipline, and if I remember correctly, 3) if he is corrupting families by being overfamiliar with them, especially with the female members of that family. But would this sort of thing apply to a Buddhist who thinks that Hitler did nothing wrong because he disbelieves the official narrative about him? Or would it apply to a Buddhist who opposes cultural Marxism?

     Not supporting, or not listening to a Buddhist whose ideas or actions one does not like is one thing; trying to have him banned and silenced is something else, especially if, aside from some unpalatable views on other matters, he is a good Buddhist. This is especially true in the modern west, which arrived at its current state of world domination (militarily, politically, culturally, economically, etc.) through, in part, relative freedom of thought and expression. Even ancient India in the Buddha’s time, ruled as it was by autocratic and sometimes sociopathic kings, allowed some very wild and anti-Dharmic beliefs to be expressed in public.

     Christian culture has always been rather intolerant of unorthodox views, and human cultures in general tend to have some degree of this trait, though lately the desire to ban and silence cultural dissenters appears to be coming from globalist “progressivism.” In order for the Brave New World Order to be implemented, a deluded worldview must appear so common-sense that nobody appears to disagree with it, rather like Chinese or North Korean communism, or 16th-century Spanish Catholicism. Anyone who suggests that the Emperor wears no clothes is a danger, or rather anyone who says that he’s not wearing what the courtiers claim he’s wearing.

     Ironically, what it boils down to is that some western Buddhists would like people like Brian and me to be silenced NOT because of our views regarding Buddhism, which are probably more knowledgeable and orthodox than those of most people who would like us to be silenced. Someone like Brian especially is persecuted, by Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, because of his views on politics—even though, as I say, his politics (let alone his Buddhism) are in some ways more dharmic than those of, say, radical leftists.

     I’ve already written elsewhere, more than once, about how leftist politics are essentially unrefined feminine sentiment that, if kept at a personal and local level, are beneficial; but if expanded out to a national or even global level, are self-destructive. Compassion is fine, but supporting the sick and dysfunctional on a massive scale to the point that they are parenting sick and dysfunctional children leads to a sick and dysfunctional society. Moral degeneracy also should not necessarily be punished unless it is clearly harming others, yet it should not be supported and endorsed by governments and multinational corporations like Apple, Google, or Disney. The very idea of decadence is now very out of fashion because, of course, we are smack in the middle of it. Our civilization is in decline. And people who speak out against it, regardless of how calm and objective they may be, are declared to be haters, and thus are hated by supposed non-haters.

     The whole attitude towards "Nazis" and "fascists" is a strange one in the west, and clearly a case of culture-wide propaganda and thought control. Clearly, Marxism has caused much more suffering than Nazism, or of all kinds of fascism combined; Stalin killed more people than Hitler did, and Mao killed more than Stalin and Hitler put together; yet wearing a hammer and sickle or an image of Mao on one's shirt is no problem, while wearing a swastika is anathema, maybe even worse than anathema. One can openly declare oneself to be a Marxist, and fear no consequences. Why is this? It's because the Marxists won. They are at the verge of winning on a global scale too, mainly by replacing the capitalist bourgeoisie with patriarchal, colonialist Evil Whitey and concealing their true agenda. It's spoon-fed to the young at this point, and most people are too ignorant and sheeplike to resist.

     With regard to Brian, I can’t rule out the possibility that he has been cursed by some adept rabbi. It appears that he is hated and persecuted at almost every turn, despite the fact that he is a harmless, nonviolent person and a sincere practicing Buddhist—and I repeat, he is undoubtedly a better Buddhist than pretty much all the ones despising him and wanting him thrown out of western Buddhism altogether. He has lost his teaching job, been thrown out of his home, been thrown out of a Tibetan Buddhist group, and has been kicked off of most social media platforms, let alone being spat on, screamed at, and assaulted on the street. It’s really a shame, though ideological intolerance appears to be bred into the human animal. Brian does have some weird ideas, though no weirder than those expressed publicly and in the middle of the cultural mainstream by indoctrinated leftists, who believe objective truth to be a myth, and thus whatever they are told to feel by their peers, and by the globalist media, is true for everybody. Strange is this. Even so, be happy.