Pat Little, a Bodhicharya Ireland member who is presently living in the South of France, has reviewed a recent discussion televised in two parts on French television, in which Philippe Cornu reflects on the recent lockdown from a Buddhist perspective. In part one he considers it as a bardo of opportunity:
'In this broadcast on France 2 Philippe Cornu, a well-known Ethnologist and Tibetologist, teaching at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) considers the present situation, with France just coming out of lockdown in the context of the pandemic COVID 19, and gives a Buddhist interpretation of the situation.
He defines the lockdown, which has made people all over the world reconsider themselves and the context in which they live and have their being, as a ‘bardo’, an intermediate stage involving a rupture with a past state and also with a future, just beginning, the whole experience causing a certain amount of fear and apprehension. The French lockdown has in some respects been more severe than that in other countries in Europe, with the requirement to produce a signed form stipulating for which of certain approved options one is leaving one’s home, for a period of not more than one hour, this form controlled by the police, who are empowered to impose quite substantial fines for irregularities. It is understandable therefore that many people have felt that they were no longer in control of their own lives. And with the French predilection for philosophical debate, the media took up the cause with great enthusiasm, broadcasting hours of analysis by well-known figures, but also phone-ins where citizens could express their opinions on the cause, political handling and ultimate outcome of the arrival of the virus that has caused so much distress and thrown so many lives into chaos.
The definition of this state as a ‘bardo’ is therefore readily comprehensible, and helps to give meaning to it.
Cornu emphasised from the beginning the particularity of the space-time nature of every ‘bardo’, every one being different, and involving a profound rupture with the past, a confusing loss of reference-points in which all old habits are reviewed and many discarded.
There has been much questioning therefore of the nature of ‘freedom’, or ‘liberty’, the first of the trio of the revolutionary ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’ which, dating back to the Revolution of 1789, is still the underlying benchmark of French political life.
But Cornu questions the meaning of ‘freedom’; does it mean the freedom to do exactly as I want to, the freedom to go out and about, to go and watch a football match or visit friends and relatives? Cornu puts a Buddhist slant on what real freedom means, defining it as an interior attitude, a view of the whole that does not require the physical act of going anywhere at all.
At this point the interviewer asked Cornu what place the concept of ‘hope’ occupied in Buddhism, to which he replied that ‘hope’ did not hold an especially privileged place in Buddhist thinking, any more than its opposite, ‘fear’, since both operate on the level of the emotions, which perturb our minds and prevent us from seeing things as they are. A Buddhist approach requires us to look at our emotions, rather than espousing them. Beware, he advised; the emotions always have something to sell you! Behind them there is nothing, and the only power they have over us is that which we grant them.
The really important question, given the destabilising nature of this ‘bardo’ experience that no one was expecting is: how can we put it to positive use?
One element, probably the first in importance for most people, is the social one: physical isolation was experienced, sometimes in a traumatic way, depending on circumstances and the nature of the individual. But, counters Cornu, physical distancing from people does not prevent a feeling for the social element.
On the contrary, it allows one to see and understand better one’s responsibility for other people: since we all can be carriers of the virus, keeping one’s distance and wearing a mask is, paradoxically, a manner of paying attention to the well-being of others. We should not see it from an egotistical point of view: “I am deprived of the company of the other”, but rather: “I am doing this for all other people I come across, whether friends or strangers”.
We have, of course, during this period, learned to communicate in a different way. Liberal and creative use has been made of the internet, videos etc., but we should not think that the devices of the new technologies are a replacement for physical contact; they simply help us to get through this period. The ‘bardo’ is not the end of the journey, but a trial, an ordeal that can be gone through with serenity given the right attitude.
It is a learning experience ideal for seeing the concept of interdependence in action at every level:
· As we have seen, on a personal level, I can be a carrier of the virus. I must therefore show a sense of responsibility towards others. In Asia (Cornu has spent a lot of time in Japan) everyone wears a face-mask as a matter of course.
· On a national and world level, economic activity has slowed almost to a halt, and this will have a dire impact on the economy of almost every country, as well as being a destabilising factor for years to come.
· On the future of the planet, it is clear that Mother Earth did much better when we were not in a position to pollute. We humans breathed better, animals began to react and to come back into ‘our’ territory, and to readapt to a planet which had become over-populated with humans.
As this is a long-term trend, we need to prepare in advance for dramatic changes in life on earth, changes which happen in time.
As the programme drew to a close, Cornu asked the fundamental question: can we hope for change in our behaviour in the long term? He answered his own question in Buddhist fashion, by claiming that it all depends on the capacity of each individual for inward change. He suggested that we should use the time we have to change our patterns of over-consumption, of restless frenzy in our behaviour, of our attitude towards time in which we must have everything, immediately. On the other hand, looking inward will reveal the riches we already possess. We must become conscious of the illusions on which our societies are built, as we are constantly drawn towards the attractiveness of the spectacle that is before us.
Philippe Cornu’s short talk was a good example of the qualities that this weekly programme often demonstrates, and the ‘Union Bouddhiste de France’ is to be congratulated in producing such a consistently high quality of reflection for those lucky enough to be able to tune into it.
Pat Little
Saint-Geniès de Malgoires, 10 June 2020
Part one of the original programme in French can be viewed here.
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