Buddhist(?) advices for times of pandemic

A little bit of background first. We own a weekend house in Nagymaros, Hungary, where we are sparsely surrounded by cantankerous old neighbours. The only exception is J., a cheerful middle-aged psychologist, parapsychologist, holistic healer, and Buddhist teacher - as her business card neatly summarizes. She has a funny and, despite her profession, down-to-earth personality which probably would have made her our favorite neighbour even if the bar had been higher.

We exchanged some emails in the last couple of days regarding some beside-the-point matter, and in her last one, she took the time to send me the thoughts of the leader of the Buddhist Church of Hungary, László Mireisz. Plus, a youtube video of breathing exercises for children. I've been interested in Buddhism for some time, but have my reservations about official churches of any kind. Nevertheless, I opened the doc with a curious mind,  and I was in for a treat.

"..the new moon reaching Aries brings the spring, but due to the mass epidemic exacerbated by the new moon, the next 2 weeks will be difficult. April 8 at 4:34 pm: Full moon, the disease is beginning to recede. In 4 weeks or so, the task will probably only be to clean up the ruins."

If only epidemiologists consulted the stars. This opening set the expectations quite high. The next thought didn't disappoint either.

"Outbreaks were always there, every 10-20-30 years, people were always touched, decimated, it is with the man, but it always wants to communicate something."

The highlight is from the author, and so is the grammar - the Google Translate engine respected the spirit of the original text.

Unfortunately, the rest of the 3-page memo is a bit of a letdown. If Mireisz is privy to what the virus wants to communicate, he doesn't tell us. Which is even grosser irresponsibility than telling people that in 4 weeks the danger is over. This obvious lack of profound insight is followed by the usual recommendations: fasting, burning incense oils, loving the loved ones, breathing exercises. Drinking a lot of water stands out as a surprisingly sound one, I will keep that in mind. The other, and last, reasonable suggestion is to follow the instructions of the authorities. Even considering that the authorities in question happen to be the Hungarian government, I concede the point.

Those who are concerned with Buddhist purity probably have been put slightly off by the very first sentence, but the ecumenical spirit shines through in its fullness only later in the middle.

"This December the constellation of the planets will be the same as it was at Jesus' birth."

Maybe there is something to the observation attributed to that pompous liar Chesterton: "When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing, they believe in everything."

To the author's credit, he advises, among others, not to indulge in conspiracy theories. This, I think, goes against the wider context, but a wise suggestion considering the target audience. Speaking of the wider context, maybe there is none. Astrology, Ayurveda, the aforementioned quick nod to Christianity, some yoga nuggets of wisdom, sprinkled with the usual earth-water-fire-air symbolism, the Hungarian Buddhists are open to everything. The only thing that is conspicuously missing is Buddhism.

And I almost forget to mention one of the real pearls.

The word "corona" for the virus is unlucky because it is the aura, the perfection, the sacred symbol. The "barret" would be better.

All in all, László Mireisz made me appreciate the Catholic Church. Those moments are very rare, as my wife could attest. She, who has treasured childhood memories related to the Church and Christianity, often has to listen to my insensitive harangues on the topic.

But the guilty pleasure of making cheap jokes at the expense of gullible people eventually wears off and I still haven't figured out how I should respond to J. I appreciate her kindness and the thought she spared for us in times like this. What's the appropriate answer? Polite honesty? Or just saying thank you without commenting on the subject? Do I dare to wake the sleeping lion by asking questions?
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Oil War 2020



It’s almost just a distraction from the coronavirus news, but a huge thing in its own right. I’ve started to lazily follow the recent oil war.
The unfolding events puzzle the layman reader, but judging by the contradicting opinions on CNN or Oilprice.com, it also do the experts - supposing they are impartial observers. Are Saudi Arabia and Russia waging a war against the United States? Or against each other? Who started it and why?
A brief summary of what seems to be the facts for me is the following. In the 2010s, America upended the oil industry (and concomitantly geopolitics) by inventing fracking. Between 2014 and 2016 the Saudis tried to kill the nascent industry by ramping up oil production and thus pushing down the prices. Robbing them of their revenues, this move destroyed a lot of smaller fracking companies, but also spurred industry-wide invention. After the cull, the surviving players adapted and proved that they can be profitable at much lower oil prices than it was thought before. Saudi Arabia burned a lot of its reserves and made its enemies stronger at the same time. What seemed like a Luddite attempt at the beginning proved to be a very expensive failure at the end. Fast forward 2020. Because of the pandemic, the demand for oil dropped. And the Saudis are again pumping like nobody’s business. The question is: Why?
And here is where the confusion and speculation start. Allegedly, the Saudis wanted to curb production of the OPEC+ countries to keep prices high, but the Russians didn’t want to go along with that. So the Saudis decided to force them back to the negotiating table by causing them some pain. This is, of course, the exact opposite of what they originally wanted, one can't help but notice.

Two competing narratives are on the market, but neither explains the contradiction above. According to one, the Russians are happy - some even claim they started the whole thing - because this will hurt the American shale industry — although it's not clear why another replay of the same battle plan would be more successful against a more advanced industry than the first one was 5 years ago. Unless, as some say, the fracking industry is not as healthy as it looks at all, and has been running on fumes already.
Other sources claim it’s an attrition game between Saudi and Russia — both are waiting for the other to blink, but it’s quite unpleasant for all participants.
The combined consequences of the oil war and the pandemic are huge. They could wipe out regimes that depend on their oil revenues and are already wobbly. Iran and Venezuela come to mind quickly. They could bankrupt the Saudi. They will certainly ravage not only the shale industry but the renewable energy industry as well.
How long can the suffer-fest last? Which party will be hurt more? What will be its effect on renewables? How can and will the USA retaliate? Will the pandemic eventually render the whole affair a petty game of myopic despots? How much of a cynical asshole one has to be to start this in the midst of the biggest global crisis in living memory? Apart from the last question, the devil is in the details of each. Turbulent times.
Update: the original of this article was written 3 days ago. Apart from minor amendments, it hasn't been updated based on recent news.

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