Tonight’s (Wednesday’s) 8pm broadcast premiere of the PBS documentary The Buddha on KERA-TV Channel 13 should be worth a look – even if, as this NYT review warns, writer-director David Grubin leans toward the thumb-sucking Western view of Buddhism as some kind of endlessly blissful acid trip in which the participants are never confused or afraid. The beloved, no-nonsense Tibetan spiritual teacher Pema Chodron insists: Buddhism is about the embrace and acceptance of messy emotions rather than the student pretending that she or he doesn’t have them.
The New York Times review writer David Grubin mentioned here was wrong about the PBS program depicting Buddhism as like some endless blissful acid trip, more than one speaker stated that Buddhist meditation was not just about blissing out but about mindfully facing all of ones difficult mental states. Grubin obviously has not a clue about the difference between concentration meditation and insight meditation. It is neurotic to believe that inner peace is not possible. True peace is found not by just concentrating into bliss and peace but coming from that peace to face ones pain and inner suffering and see the impermanence of all sensation, thoughts and emotions. That is why so many Psychologists find the Buddhist mindful insight meditation valuable.