One extreme is using Dharma for worldly purposes, saying to disagree with our politics is to disagree with the Dharma. Another extreme is when we let our political views block us from accepting some natural conclusion of Dharma – we reject the Dharma because it doesn’t conform with our tightly held political views.

However, not mixing Dharma and politics does not mean Dharma practitioners cannot have political views or that the Dharma should not inform what are political views are. Sometimes we misunderstand the instruction on not mixing Dharma and politics to mean Kadampas shouldn’t have any political views at all. Politics is part of modern life and our mission is to attain the union of Kadampa Buddhism and modern life. Especially those of us in democracies, we have certain political responsibilities to the societies we live in, and we should embrace these responsibilities and try fulfill them in ways consistent with our understanding of Dharma.

The core principle of any Kadampa center (or on-line Kadampa community) is “everybody welcome.” The Kadam Dharma makes no distinction between race, gender, socioeconomic class, worldly position, mental or physical disability, and so forth. It also makes no distinction between our political views. The truth is most Dharma centers and communities tend to lean left politically, making more right-leaning Kadampas feel less welcome. Just as we need to make sure we are not being racist, sexist, abelist, or whatever in our cultivating a Dharma community culture, we likewise need to make sure we make people of all political stripes feel equally welcome within Kadampa communities.

It is perfectly possible for two sincere Kadampas to arrive at completely contradictory political views. It’s natural that this happens because we each have a different understanding of the world we live in according to our karmic perception of things. We might also occupy different positions in society and so see things differently – yet we still 100% agree on every aspect of the Dharma.

I often find it helpful to consider the experience of Kadampas with schizophrenia. There are quite a number of them, actually. The world that appears vividly to them is sometimes quite different than the world that appears to others. And yes, there is a difference between a schizophrenic hallucination and the conventional world we normally see (though not as much of a difference as we like to think…). In helping them, of course we try help them differentiate between what is a hallucination and what is conventional reality, but sometimes that is not possible. So what advice should we give them? We tell them to respond with Lamrim minds to whatever appears – whether it is demons, their bodies covered in spiders, or fairies adorning everyone with flowers. It doesn’t really matter what appears to their mind, the way they pacify their delusions and mind is to respond with Lamrim to whatever appears. If they do so consistently, even with respect to things that are not there at all even conventionally, their mind will gradually come under greater and greater control, they will create better and better karma, and their appearances will become increasingly pleasant and pure.

The exact same thing is true for Kadampas of different political persuasions. Things like pandemics, wars, elections involving certain political leaders, structural discriminations, or major societal developments can trigger a whole host of different political opinions within the Kadampa community and it can lead to all sorts of divisive debates about what is the correct Kadampa response to the political development, with accusations flying in all directions about who is mixing Dharma with politics and others saying we shouldn’t have any political views at all.

The resolution to all these debates is simple: we all agree on the Dharma but we perceive a different world. Our job for each of us is to respond to whatever appears to OUR mind with as much wisdom and compassion as we can. For some it will lead to one political conclusion and for another it may lead to a completely contradictory political conclusion and that is perfectly OK. We all agree on the Dharma and we respect we may all come to different political conclusions when we apply the Dharma to the world as it appears to us. Then, no problems. Then, everybody welcome.