Bodhisattva

Let me tell you about something that's going on at work. A BBC TV show wants to do an interview with the guy who played the title role in the first -- to be safe let's just call the show the Monster Fighter Man® TV show. As part of the interview they want to hand him some Monster Fighter Man® monster toys and ask him about each monster. So the BBC producer guy asked me if we could grant them permission.

It's one of those situations where something's not a problem until someone asks. Know what I mean? See, we don't make the toys. We only make the TV shows. We license other companies to make the toys. So we own the characters, but toys made based upon those characters are a different matter. It gets complicated. Who actually has the rights to grant permission for their use in a BBC interview? There are hundreds of people in all three of the companies -- us, the toy makers and BBC -- none of whom really know who has these rights when you get down to it (though none of them would ever admit that particular fact). I know what you're thinking; after the nearly 40 years our company's been in the character licensing business someone must know the rules about this stuff. Think again. (And if you think the company I work for is unusual, think about that again too. It's the same where you work, or go to school, or do whatever it is you do. Your government works just like this too, by the way.) So we're talking about a potentially very complex situation. All this arising from something so simple it's silly.

Now I could bring this up to someone in our management. But if I do that what am I really asking him? I'm asking him, "Will you take the heat later on if someone starts bitching about this?" If he's a fairly gutsy guy he'll say OK. But if he's not, he's gotta start talking to people until either they find someone who's willing to take the heat or until all those people can agree that it's OK for the BBC to show a few plastic toys on their show.

Do you see where this is going? This isn't just about my problem with the plastic monster toys. This is how human relationships work. It's what Dogen called "The Complicated." We have to admit that human interactions are complex. The Universe itself is a complex place. But at the same time it's very simple. Your life works exactly the same. World politics works just like this.

What's really going on is just a couple guys playing with a couple plastic toys on a TV show. But we think there's all this intricate stuff going on involving hundreds of people and trademarks, copyrights, licensing fees, intellectual property rights issues, etc., etc. And since a lot of people agree that this intricate stuff really exists, real problems can arise out of what's essentially nothing. And this isn't just some silly little thing that happens in the world of plastic monster toys either.

Imagine two kids playing with toy trucks in a field. Next imagine that field just happens to be on the borderline of two warring nations. Next imagine someone fires a gun at those kids because he thinks they might be spies or some such nonsense. Next imagine the news media on both sides getting hold of the issue. What country were the kids from? What race was the gun man? What religion did they all believe in? Now do you see where I'm going with this? We create lots of misery for ourselves over nothing. Nothing at all.

Are there really any countries? Any races? Any religions? Or do we just believe there are? And what about all our history? Where is that? Where is it right now? Is it something real? Or is it all just imaginary?

Now look at your own life. Look at your problems. Look at the Very Important Matters facing you right this very minute. What are they really? I mean really really.

This is what Buddha meant when he talked about emptiness. He didn't mean there was this real cool Void somewhere out in outer space and that if we were really really spiritual and meditated real, real hard we might be able to melt into it some day. He meant that all those things we believe so strongly in were really nothing at all. That's all there is to it. Take this all the way and see where it goes. You think Buddha must have been talking about something a whole lot bigger than your measly little life right now? How could something as trivial as that be the basis of a 2,500 year old philosophy claiming millions of followers? Friend, you have no idea how deep your misunderstandings about your paltry boring life go. Your silly little life is the basis of all reality.

You believe in your problems. You define yourself by them. You fear that you might poof right out of existence if you slackened your grip on those problems even for a second. You are ever vigilant. You repeat the details of your problems to yourself every minute of every hour of every day. You write them down to make sure you won't forget.

The Complicated exists. To be sure. You must deal with it. There's all kinds of arbitrary nonsense out there in the world that you cannot avoid. You have to do your taxes. You have to fill out those forms at work. You have to renew your driver's license. You've got all kinds of politics in your office or your school or your bridge club, people who think they're your superiors and who demand that you pretend they are too, folks that think they're your inferiors who'll suck the life right out of you if you let them. There's all sorts of little pain-in-the-ass trivia you have to deal with every damned day. But let me clue you in on a secret. It ain't nothing. It's all purely arbitrary. It's like little bits of foam floating on the ocean. In our minds we've created a fantasy in which we believe that if this one bit of foam isn't in just the right spot maybe the tides will change or maybe the ocean might vanish all together. But it won't.

Your action is important. What you do matters. A lot. It's the most urgent thing in the universe. Really. There is nothing as pressing in the entire cosmos as what you are doing right this minute. Nothing. The very idea that there could be is laughably absurd. The universe moves according to your action. And your action alone. And mine. And your aunt Minnie's. Alone. Alone together alone. Or as Dogen put it, Buddhas alone together with Buddhas.

At the same time it's nothing to worry about. There is nothing to worry about. There never could be anything to worry about.

Be very careful what you do. But know when you're doing it that the results are part of The Complicated. The Complicated is beyond your control or even your understanding. And yet, The Complicated is ultimately you. You are beyond your own understanding.

Now excuse me, I have to call a guy from the BBC about some monster toys...

-Brad Warner

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