Diary 1963 - Murshid Sam's Living Stream

Diaries 1963February 17, 1963The two big things of the week were the news of the arrival of my luggage and the death ofPhra Sumangalo—Robert Clifton. The luggage will be picked up in a few days. There may be somecustoms entanglements. Ted Reich wants to see the ore samples, which is fortunate, because Conlonand Co. are no more. The Mining Bureau also would thank me for some pieces, which should bepossible, owing to the size of the samples.Phra Sumangalo was a veritable Avalokitesvara. We are not born as incarnations of Bodhisattvas.We fulfill the roles. Paul Fernandez was Fudo before me and his death left a vacancy. I waspushed into it by both Buddhists and Sufis, in a remarkable way, and there I function. I think Grandphraunderstood this. We had two memorable conversations when he was last here:“Robert, you and I are mere nobodies. Nobody listens to us, we can’t get audiences. But thereis not a king, prime minister, cabinet official, professor, university, holy man … or peasant from oneend of Asia to the other whom either you or I could not meet, if we haven’t met them already. Onlynobody would believe us.”“Too true, Samuel, too true.”Or: “Samuel, we haven’t got IT.”“Robert, we have got IT.”When one becomes another—excepting for the difference in Bodhisattva roles, what can onesay? We talk compassion, we read about it. Robert was in part a victim of Dulles cruelty, causinghim a heart attack after he came all the way here to warn us. Not an editor or official interviewedhim. Now we are losing millions of dollars and endless lives in S.E. Asia, and the end is not yet, northe end to the State Department rejection of the Declaration of Independence, in which nearly all ofthe press joins. To be forewarned is to be forearmed; to be a forewarner is to end like John the Baptist.The Chinese Services, Buddhist Ass. of America, were nothing like what one reads in books orhears from lecturers. But then, living Buddhism is not. There was scripture chanting and psalms andprocessions with Mantras, the last being to Kwan Yin. Then real meditation and final vows and alecture. This was given in Mandarin and translated into Cantonese. Few spoke English, though I wasvery welcomed and warned about “spurious Buddhists.” Same old stuff all over the world, but wehave our “experts” and KPFA, we don’t need no Chinese to explain nothin’. This is called “humanrelations.”Today the Zen Parinirvana Day. Kato knew Clifton from Sojiji. Thank God or Buddha that wehave real Buddhism and Americans who trust Americans and Japanese more than they trust Englishmenor Germans in regard to the Orient. It is a beginning and maybe more. Even the Universityof California has been discovering that.The Chinese made use of the Lotus Symbols, so…. And this after I have completed my Buddhistsection. The Sufi section is being radically revised and rewritten.