I'm a Mexican-Buddhist: Cinco de Mayo

(Vanessa Vancour, TEDx Talks, 2/1/17) I’m Mexican. Does that change your assumptions about me? We are really good at forming judgments about other people and jumping to conclusions based on how they look, sound, by their last names, or by the color of their skin. But imagine if we could develop a simple tactic to challenge the assumptions that limit our lives? Vanessa Vancour is a former TV anchor with a passion for bilingual storytelling. She loves journalism, culture, and believes in living an integrated life.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx.

What is a "Mexican"? As one, I've had to think about this for years. I'm American, so it's hard to know. In high school, we were called Mexicans when we were really Chicanos, Hispanic, and semi-Latinos.

That is to say, we had European (Conquistador and Colonist relatives mixed with Indigenous forbears. The combination of the two made us Mestizos or "Blends." We were a blend of Native American and Anglo-American, or at least European.

Mexico is not in Central or South America. It's Meso

Now, chances are those Europeans didn't all marry, honor, and open-mindedly have mixed race kids. There had to be some rape, coercion, ethnic cleansing, Native females leaning into the invasion and making the best of it. If I look at my arms, sometimes my arm hair goes blond in the sun, highlights in my hair, light eyes in my family, white skin in close relatives.

"Hey, Mom, who are those people?"

"What do you mean 'Who are they?'? They're your relatives!"

*Whispering* "But they look different."

"Mexico is very diverse. Go to the state of Jalisco, and they're German. We have blue-eyed people in our family tree."

Why, then, does "Mexican" mean "Brown" in Los Angeles? We're an hour from the international border. This, Alta California and the Southwest, used to be Mexico. The majority of people here now are Hispanic/Latinx.

This is still part of Latin America in many ways, the USA winning its imperial war of Manifest Destiny notwithstanding. So a a Mexican is a blend of an Indigenous person mixed with anything else.

There is no race on the planet more diverse than Latinx (Latins as a blend of Indigenous and other arrivals). But we are usually judged by our last name more than anything else.

Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star

Who would've guessed that Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter) is Hispanic? She was. So is singer Linda Ronstadt. It's not easy in Hollywood. Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) is, too. So if you're going to be Mexican, be prepared to be prejudged.

There's bias, but more than that, there are assumptions galore. We're all Catholic and lovers of the Virgen de Guadalupe (Kwan Yin as a beloved national symbol). There are Protestant, Atheist, and Jewish Mexicans.

Kwan Yin Goddess of Mercy

There are even Indigenous holdovers keeping to the old ways, staying close to nature, the curanderas and brujas (healers and witches), pagans who only converted to the ways of the Holy Roman Imperial Church to avoid being hopelessly oppressed and made invisible, exploited, or exterminated.

• Buddhism in Mexico?

Indigenas are oppressed the world over. I'm a Buddhist, a Mexican Buddhist, which is perhaps easier in Los Angeles than anywhere else. But Budismo exists in Mexico and wherever Mexicans go to fit in, intermarry, and have the cutest kids this side of the zenith. There are cherubic babies in the heavens, right?

Now we know what "Mexican" mean, but what is a "Buddhist"? That's harder to say, as there are all kinds.

In Mahayana, the big reformed school, taking bodhisattva vows to become a savior/martyr in the future seems to be the defining vow or credo.

But in Theravada, the smaller back-to-basics orthodox school, it's taking the Five Precepts and the Three Guides (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha).

There's a basic way to behave to be human, and there are three resources that give one guidance or sarana, the Teacher, the Teaching, and the well Taught. This third one is more misunderstood than the other two. It really refers to the community of noble ones, not to regular monks and nuns or the Buddhist community in general as such.

Many monastics must be noble ones (enlightened beings of the first, second, third, or fourth stage of awakening), but the majority are not. Most awakened beings are devas and, of those who are humans, historically most were laypeople. But it depends on how one counts. More monastics per capita, but more lay disciples of the Buddha in total numbers. Both are very rare in any case.

A "Buddhist" could be defined as anyone endeavoring to practice the eightfold path, which is the fourth ennobling truth. No official declaration or ceremony is necessary. Though as Americans we love that, and as Mexican American we love it, too. Look at all the pomp and circumstance of Catholic sacraments, Quinceaneras (a sort of debutante's ball when turning 15), weddings, birthdays... We love a fiesta, a feast or fest full of celebration. Who doesn't?