Pai Chang's Fox, John Kerry, George W. Bush.

The story of Pai Chang's Fox is well known to students of Zen - or at least those who take its practices seriously...as this successor of Joko Beck writes:

But there is no escape. This koan reminds us that even when we realize the oneness of all things, we mustn't lose sight of their impermanence. The spirit world, the world of enlightenment is none other than this world.

When we realize our true nature, we are not freed from the past, but we are free to make the present and future something that depends on the past, as it conditions the present.

In the political world we could say that the "true nature" of things involves, as a minimum, seeing things as they are. When we see things as they are, we can speak of things as they are. Today our media generally do not speak of things as they are in this realm. And so we run the risk that if we do not look at them skeptically, we will not be free enough to make an informed choice about the future.

Otherwise, I would submit the choice would be clear. Let's face it: it's not "bashing" the C student to refer to him as a C student; it's not bashing an A student to refer to him as an A student, and it surely isn't "imbanlance" or "unfair" to refer to the A and C students by their respective grades when talking about their mastery of schoolwork.


So, it's not "bashing" George W. Bush to say that John Kerry was indeed a War Hero, and Bush's service in the National Guard has not been fully explained to the American public.

It's not "bashing" George W. Bush to say that he misled us into a War, and that John Kerry has experience fighting in a war into which we were misled.

It's not "bashing" George W. Bush to say that John Kerry has demonstrated real heroism, and George W. Bush's mettle was demonstrated when he read "My Pet Goat."


It's not "bashing" George W. Bush to say that his violation of treaties has cost us good will arond the world.


It is not "bashing" George W. Bush to say that the poor and middle classes are worse off under him than Clinton.

It is not "bashing" George W. Bush to say that borrowing and spending to pay for a war is something that people of good conscience can oppose.

Wu-men's Comment

"Not falling under the law of cause and effect." Why should this prompt five hundred lives as a fox? "Not evading the law of cause and effect." Why should this prompt a return to human life? If you ahve the single eye of realization, you will appreciate how old Pai-chang lived five hundred lives a fox as lives of grace.

There's going to be a lot of mud thrown at Kerry from the right. Kerry showed last night that he can answer such falsehoods with the truth and that the American people can live out these last couple of fox lifetimes with grace and happiness: Help is on the way.