Rather appropriately for Halloween, and out of curiosity, tonight I went along to a talk at the Triratna centre which Cruella occasionally visits.
Afterwards, I asked the guy who gave it about her and said that I was having difficulty figuring out how his presentation, which had emphasised the importance of cultivating meditative awareness, empathy for others, and eventually an all-embracing explosion of loving-kindness triggered by an experience of non-duality, a lack of separation between self and other (all bog-standard stuff in Buddhism), could be reconciled with the behaviour exhibited by their most famous adherent.
The answer was quite interesting . He pointed out that she was only a Mitra, or what is known as a ‘friend’ of the community, and that the views that she expresses were not necessarily always representative of the values of that community.
I think (was a bit knackered after a long day and cannot recall the conversation verbatim, plus I am quite severely hearing impaired) that he also said that it was the same with other faiths.
What I cannot recall is whether he, or another person we were standing with specifically used the word ‘bad’ in doing so, in the sense that they wanted to suggest that you can have bad Buddhists just like you can have prominent members of other faiths that do not always live up to the moral standards that are required of them.
TBF, I think he added that this is the same for all of us in this respect, including him.
However, on subsequent reflection, two things struck me: becoming a Mitra in that organisation does entail a fair amount of commitment. From what I recall (I will need to check), over a period of three years (?) you have to go on what sounds like fairly intensive meditative retreats and involve yourself with other activities which are designed to extend your knowledge and understanding of your faith and deepen your level of meditative insight.
For this reason, it doesn’t some unreasonable to expect that you would end up not being quite as conceited and vile as she palpably is.
Reading between the lines and going off my gut feelings, I reckon that I may have also detected a faint whiff of exasperation, with her rather than me for asking what I did, though I can’t be sure.
In closing, I would add that Triratna have been affected by a lot of incidents and scandals in their brief history, but that the people I met and spoke with were very open and pleasant, as were those who I chatted to who had come along to hear the presentation.
So maybe Braverman is a bit like to Triratna, what Joey Barton or Danny Mills are to most City fans.
