Embroiled
Yet again in this turmoil of others,
of us versus them,
of manipulation
masquerading as virtue,
of this cultish behavior
where you give up your free thinking,
where you agree to violence
and delusion,
unable to vary from the rigid party line,
the nonsense that corrupts from the heart,
from the brain, from any inkling
that you may have about simply being kind and
loving and
compassionate for all beings;
Politics is a great distraction,
Preventing you from awakening
creating division and stupidity
in your life,
rather than awareness,
rather than a genuine heart,
rather than actually benefiting
anyone;
These,
these politicians are not saints,
they serve only the master of this world,
that great demon who corrupts,
this demon who perpetuates
cyclic existence
and suffering;
Awakening is the only option
that truly matters
A poem by Robert Aho © 2025
I find myself explaining over and over again why it is so important to focus upon awakening, to not get distracted. This process of awakening must be placed above all else, or there is no hope for this world. Surprisingly, I even encounter some Buddhists who don’t seem to understand this basic principle. Not surprisingly, these egotistical practitioners seem very distracted by politics, imagining they are making a difference by becoming enraged. This is rather tragic.
If we become distracted by this world, really anything at all, then we will never awaken. By becoming embroiled with politics, we immediately become distracted and agitated. Now, if you do not know what this process of awakening is, then you might think that I just said that you must move to a cave in the mountains, never to be seen again, becoming completely oblivious.
What awakening really means is that we go beyond all obstacles. We become empowered with our life. We take care of our life without becoming distracted. We do what we can.
So, if you aspire to awaken, you must eat food, live modestly, be kind to everyone. When we aspire to awaken, we can still vote or let people know that we want the best for them. It doesn’t mean that you stop taking care of the world around you. An extremist view would be that I’m saying we have nothing to do with anything if we aspire to awaken. That would be a mistake.
I’ve told people that I vote in a way that brings the most benefit. I vote for kindness and compassion. This doesn’t mean that I belong to any party or worship any politician. I can see very clearly that politicians are simply confused beings who are trying their best to influence others. Maybe they see this as an avenue to wealth, or they seek fame, liking all the attention, or maybe they want to be cruel. Politicians are just embroiled in samsara, equally as confused as any sentient being who is trapped here.
No matter what political movement a person follows, the end result in their success always leads to the same thing. We see this throughout history. Various political movements start with the best of intentions; however, because those movements are governed by people with absolutely no understanding of the importance of awakening, no control over their own mind, their own emotions, governed by their own ego, these movements always fail.
If you have read my book The Frog, you already know that I was killed by a Chinese bomb in my last lifetime. I was just a small child living with a nomadic family. I was expected to go to monastery, because some lama came by, recognized me somehow. This made my family very happy. Then an army came by and did what armies do—they kill innocent civilians.
The politics in China began as something that seemed very virtuous at first, because it sought to overthrow a dictator who was not serving his people very well. This revolution was started by people with good intentions. Then, in short order, it turned into something murderous and quite harmful, scattering the Tibetan people throughout the world.
Now, I should say, because many Tibetan people understood this idea of placing the aspiration to awaken above everything else, they were able to endure. This aspiration to awaken became something that the rest of the world was able to discover. China did something horrendous because of politics. Tibet, however, brought blessings to the world.
Please understand that, although I spent the first few years of my life dreaming about how I died in the previous lifetime, I hold no animosity towards China. Their leaders, just like all politicians, are very confused, suffering in the worst way possible, simply because they spend all their time embroiled in political struggles, doing what they can to hold onto power, generating extremely negative karma that they must now deal with throughout eternity.
I pray that those who killed me discover why awakening is much more important than anything. Although, through force, they thought that they had conquered an enemy, they really empowered them. The cruelty of this politics was completely impotent.
Lamas who were imprisoned were tortured; and, yet, they kept the aspiration to awaken as most precious. They still wished their oppressors the best, hoping that they would awaken. This is how we take care.
Blessings in Light,
Robert Aho