The old expression, “Where Shall I Begin?” comes to mind. But I think we should not take the easy shot here. It would be helpful, and perhaps insightful, to examine what we think of the new president-elect in the context of Buddhist teachings, at least as we understand both of them. Or perhaps better to admit that we do not really understand either, but why let that stop us from engaging in comparative thinking? Note that I did not title the piece “What’s Wrong with Trump. Period.” I really think we should return to the basic question.

But even from a purely sociological or political perspective, I would submit that the trouble with Trump does not only consist in the litany of his behaviors and misbehaviors of body, mouth and mind (the “Three Actions” of Buddhism), as portrayed in the media, though there is plenty to criticize and complain about there. The problem, as I see it, is captured by a quote from the famous cartoon Zen master, Pogo the Possum: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” (Full disclosure: I started a Pogo club celebrating Walt Kelly’s creation in high school, and wrote a column about Pogo’s wisdom in the school newsletter). 

In other words, the reaction of others to now-POTUS Trump’s antics is the problem, and hints at the potential solution. As soon as his competitors in the primaries began reacting to what he said and did, either in opposite of like fashion, they were doomed. As soon as Hillary began to run her campaign as a commentary on his, she had lost the battle. You don’t con a con man.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune,
or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them:
To die, to sleep no more; and by a sleep, to say we end the heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to?
'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
To die, to sleep, to sleep, perchance to dream; aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause.

The Bard nails it once again. Perhaps the prospect that our dreams foreshadow life after death should give us pause. One of our many Zen poets, Sengcan of the 6th-7th century China would add:

Emptiness here, emptiness there, but the infinite universe stands always before your eyes.
Infinitely large and infinitely small; no difference, for definitions have vanished and no boundaries are seen. So too with being and non-being.

So Zen tells us that the apparent boundary line between being and non-being is just that. Apparent. A little more amenable to bridging may be that between sleeping and waking: dreaming.

I have long been fascinated with dreams. I have memories of unusual dreams going back to childhood. But nobody ever talks about their dreams, so I learned to put them in my back pocket at an early age. However, I later learned that, in other cultures, dreams are given a place of importance. Mainly in what we refer to as primitive cultures, to be sure, such as that of the aboriginal tribes in Australia. But native Americans also respected dreams, as did earlier European and Asian cultures, and developed theories or myths as to their import for our lives.