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Having shifted house 11 times in the first 11 years of his marriage, including landing up in a police lockup for a few nights over a tenancy dispute in which he was accused of dacoity, trespassing and breaking in at night, Aspi Mistry turned to Buddhism to improve his "House Karma.” He had been given a book on Buddhism by his younger brother, writer Cyrus who had turned to the philosophical religion believed to be founded by Siddhartha Gautama sometime between the sixth to fourth century before the Christian era.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I came through the door of suffering,” he told Parsiana on November 20, 2019. "I never hankered for property. I just wanted a place to stay.” The 70-year-old former software professional and one-time student activist had to appear in court for the next nine years and was denied a passport for the duration. The complainant, a deviant relative who had connived with a corrupt police official, never appeared in court as is so often the case and the matter was eventually dismissed.
Around 1992 Aspi attended Nichiren Buddhism sessions in Bombay conducted by the Bharat Soka Gakkai organization and was initially "a closet chanter” of the Lotus Sutra, one of the most important influential Sutras (a particular teaching by the Buddha) of Mahayana Buddhism, one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism, the other being Theravada. He said he had been struggling to put together pieces of his life, like in a "jigsaw puzzle.” Within eight to 10 days of practicing his new faith his "situation changed.” He settled various court cases against him and those that he had initiated. He did not want the rest of his life spent in courtrooms and lawyers’ offices. His wife Vasantha, a Hindu, also took up Buddhism.
But Aspi found the Nichiren sect named after the 13th century Japanese sage to be restrictive. Questioning was frowned upon and the study proved to be narrow, a "tunnel vision” of Buddhism. "I wanted to learn more.” He and Vasantha left the Soka Gakkai and founded the Dharma Rain Centre in 2003 which regularly organizes teachings for the Bombay Sangha (community) by eminent Buddhist teachers including the Dalai Lama. "A small group of people in Bombay led by Aspi Mistry, a practicing Buddhist, decided to meet every Saturday” at his home, noted Outlook magazine (October 3, 2011). "There was no real agenda: the Dharma Rain Centre was established to discuss in a lively manner all aspects of ethics, spirituality and its practice, to study religious texts and to meditate together.”
In 2007, when the Dalai Lama was on a visit to Bombay, Aspi got an opportunity to meet the man whom many consider to be an incarnation of the Buddha. He inquired of his holiness whether it was wrong to raise questions. "If you don’t question, how will you learn?” the holy man countered. "Study everything, all the Buddhist traditions. It’s good you have opened a center. Don’t make it a monastery! Make it a place where the youth chat, have lots of discussion and fun.” Aspi then pointed out he was facing a dilemma on how to "balance or juggle” his time between his software business and his growing interest in Buddhism. His holiness advised him to make an annual plan and devote a month a year to Buddhism and the rest of his time to his profession. Aspi then undertook a 10-day meditation course at the Vipassana center in Igatpuri.

He began making trips to Dharamshala where the Dalal Lama and other Tibetan exiles had fled when the Chinese invaded their homeland in 1959. Tibet, on the northern side of the Himalayas, is also known as the Roof of the World due to it being the "highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of 5,000 m (16,000 ft),” according to Wikipedia. The Chinese claim Tibet is an integral part of China while the Tibetan Government-in-Exile maintained that Tibet is an independent state under unlawful occupation. Aspi clarifies that the Dalal Lama accepts the sovereignty of the Republic of China and asks in return that the communist government "allow them to preserve/practice/maintain their religion, language and culture.” The Chinese government "wants the Tibetans to renounce their refugee status and become Chinese passport holders,” says Aspi. But that would tighten the government’s hold on them and restrict their traveling abroad.

 

 

 

 

 

Buddhism is officially recognized in China as a religion and around 18% of the population (245 million) follows the faith. According to Wikipedia, Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world, with around 520 million adherents, equal to seven percent of the world’s population. During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, Buddhism, like other faiths, was targeted, monks were tortured and sacred books burned. "It’s hard for Buddhists to protect their own rights... (because) there is no religious law in China,” Sheng Hui, vice president of the Buddhist Association of China told Time magazine (March 16, 2016).  Retired government officials are banned from believing in any faith at all, the weekly noted.
Aspi made trips to Bir, near Dharamshala, and "ran short-term courses” at the Deer Park Institute, a project of the Siddhartha’s Intent Society (SIS) founded there in 2006 by filmmaker and writer Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. Around 65% of the courses are related to Buddhism, while others focus on filmmaking, yoga, calligraphy and the revival of classical Indian traditions. He is presently on the governing body of SIS.
"I kept going every two or three years” and eventually rented a place there, Aspi states. He and Vasantha split their time between their home in Goa and Bir, having sold off their house in Neral.
Aspi holds two or three workshops on Buddhism at the Firefly Ashram, 40 km from Bangalore. It is "an inclusive, secular ashram (founded in 2001) that is open to all spiritual traditions,” according to their website. The founder, Siddhartha, is also the artistic director. In January, Aspi conducted a three-day residential course on "What the Buddha taught.”
Contrary to popular belief, Buddhists are not vegetarians. The rocky terrain of Tibet does not lend for agriculture. But the Buddhists believe one should minimize killing. For example, if you kill a yak weighing 600 kilos, you could feed a family for a year, notes Aspi. This is preferable to "killing a chicken every day.” The Dalal Lama had turned vegetarian for some time but "he fell ill. You can’t suddenly stop,” stated Aspi. "Over a thousand years the genes get used to meat.” He added chicken twice a week or so to his meals. "This was many years ago. I don’t know the present situation,” adds Aspi.
Aspi’s parents, Behram and Freny, were opposed to his marrying a non-Parsi on "religious grounds.” His father, a former copywriter in an advertising agency, was a staunch traditionalist and one of the founders of the erstwhile Committee Of Vigilant Parsis. Freny was more middle-of-the-road in her leanings. Of their three sons, only one, writer Rohinton, married a Parsi. Daughter Firuza, now settled in New York, was married to a Parsi. But the parents kept their relations with the boys and, in times of crisis, Aspi and his wife stayed with the senior Mistrys at their Hughes Road residence.

 

 

 

 

 

Aspi attended St Xavier’s High School, St Xavier’s College, the Indian Institute of Technology, from which he dropped out after the second year, and the Institute of Communication Arts (now Xavier Institute of Communications).
The couple has two sons, both married to South Indians. The elder Vahishta, along with his wife Neha Sumitran has taken up sustainable farming around 30 to 40 kms outside Kodaikanal "only for themselves;” and Darius, who lives with his wife Sneha outside Oxford, looks after online marketing strategies for a map company. The parents performed the boys’ navjotes with a proviso they could "decide later” which religion, if any, to follow. "We gave them complete freedom” to choose, affirms Aspi.
He views Zoroastrianism "in very positive terms. The practices and prayers are wonderful. Unfortunately, because of purely social norms and practices related to conversion, inter-religious marriages, etc being insisted on... by a fundamentally driven orthodoxy, its usefulness to society and especially to young people has become almost nil and burdensome.”
In reincarnation the goal is often to overcome the cycle of life and death and achieve Nirvana. But many learned Buddhists vow they will not enter Nirvana till everyone qualifies to do so. They want to help others achieve Bodhi, or "awakening,” "enlightenment.” These enlightened people are referred to as Bodhisattva, seekers of Bodhi. "The Mahayana has the concept of the Bodhisatva. Theravada, emphasizes individual liberation from Samsara, the circle of life and death. Buddhism is based on rationality, says Aspi. Buddhists are advised to "discard superstition, but not discard science… Everyone has the potential to become a Buddha, ‘one who is awake.’”