Namu Trotsky Butsu

A word of explanation. This story is set in a version of Buddha Amidas Pure Land, a kind of buddhist heaven that members of the pure land sect believe one is reborn in if one faithfully chants 'namu amida butsu' in this land all barriers to enlightenment are removed such that even the birds chant the sutras. In a strange buddhist paradox, it is considered particularly unfortunate to be reborn as a bird, thus begging the question 'why do these birds sing the buddha's praises?'. The fact that the story stars the chief protagonists of the russian revolution is entirely to do with the writers own personal struggle with reconciling his marxist-lenninist youth with his later interest in the teachings of buddhism. V.I Lenin appears courtusey of Island Records. His forthcoming duet with Bob Marley 'Get up stand up, when the party says so.' will be available for download next week.

Namu Trotsky Butsu

Leon Trotsky looked up from his coffee. The birds were singing, singing sutras. The grass was green and, well, enlightening. Life in the pure land of buddha amida was confusing to a dialectical materialist. Leon, for that is what they called him here, finished his coffee and took a walk through the park . To all intents and purposes it was the socialist paradise he had fought for. He enjoyed his work in the collective laundry. Wash, dry, fold. Wash, dry, fold. The being in the moment of it all. So different from the intellectual struggle he had fought with his pen against the tzar, then the bougousie, then the stalinist bueracracy. Here there was no struggle only an abundance of oppertunities for enlightenment. But something was wrong. It was at that moment that a bird appeared. This was common enough, but this bird was bald, with a goatee beard and an outrageous russian accent. 'Komrad Trotsky, it I, V.I Lenin.' 'Amida Butsu,' exclaimed Leon, 'I never expected to see you here. I thought your attachment to the doctrine of dialectical materialism would surely hold you back from realising the unity of mind and matter. Are you not, you know, a bit too materialist for this place.' 'That's vy I'm here as a bird komrad. I have no choice but to preach the virtues of enlightenments, as ze karmic konsquences of my paving the vay for Stalin.' 'What happened to Stalin?' 'Ha! He is proffessional shit eater in the hell realm.' Leon took a breath, he hadnt really spent much time thinking about the sharp end of samsara, the wheel of birth and death. He had been so well rewarded for keeping the torch of true socialism alive that he had just plain forgot that for those that went the other way laid a fate of paying in flesh for their negative actions. He sucked his teeth, Negative, positive. There he was again making dualistic judgements. 'Poor man.' He said. 'Fuck hym!' Said Lenin. 'If I deserve to be bird, he deserves to eat shit. I made a revolution. He reverse it. Thesis. Antithesis. Synthesis. That's all there is to it.' Leon sighed. In the past he would have agreed. 'But Vladamir. The Chinese beuracratic collectivist regime would say the same thing while they oppress people and they have adopted confuscianism. What you are saying is just yin and yang. The old story about duality. I thought as one of the birds of buddha amida you would know that all is harmony.' 'Fuck harmony. Do you know how hard I vork. I get up at dawn and sing till dusk.' Here we go with the guilt trip thought Leon. Prolier than thou, Vladamir hadnt moved on much.' Ze only thing which cheers me up is the thought of zat steel bastard eating shit for eternity.' Leon felt a sudden pain in his body. Nowhere in particular, just in his body. He suddnly realised that this was compassion. In a flash the pure land seemed to melt as he realised that he was feeling compassion for the man who had had him killed, had killed his family and had ruined everything that he had ever fought for. At that moment he saw the unity of duality, he saw at one extreme, the bliss of enlightenment. At the other he saw the agony of going into the hell realm in order to save his greatest enemy and he saw that they were the same, He took the vow. 'Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them all.' And he set off on his endless path, to save his enemy. Realising that the end of this path and its beginning were essentially the same.