From Dhammapada 223
21731748_1896381147045697_2119888989265915925_o.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0327a3&_nc_ohc=vUXq_IkVA-wQ7kNvgE8WKbL&_nc_ht=scontent-nrt1-2.jpgIn recent days, I have been contacted by a Sangha member and a Zen friend, one in Ukraine and one in Israel, heartbroken at recent violence there, the terrible inhumanity, cruelty and suffering in war. Each has felt anger, hate, "othering" of the enemy, hopelessness, frustration and fear sometimes gripping their own heart in response. Another person told me of a similar feeling due to the latest school shooting in America. I felt it in my own heart too, yesterday, in my Japanese town, when a horrible story of child abuse was reported in the news. My friends wanted to know how to deal with such feelings. What can we Buddhists do in response.
It is natural to feel revulsion, anger, "othering," frustration, fear and the rest at such times. We are human. It is how we evolved through the generations, to feel sickened and seeking revenge at such times. So, there is no shame in feeling so. However, our vow is not to let such thoughts and emotions overtake us, not to be poisoned by them, not to act on them, to turn from them as best we can. In fact, if we do let these emotions capture us, we let the real enemy win. We add poison to poison.
Our best response, our most powerful "weapon," is to counter the ugliness and violence with many multiples of their opposites. Let us meet the fires of hate with rivers of kindness and tolerance, let us face down violence and selfishness with peaceful hearts and overwhelming charity, meet cheating and dishonesty with high ethics, drown out angry speech with words of love. It is for this reason that Jukai, our Zen Buddhist undertaking of living by the Precepts, is powerful medicine for these poisons. The Precepts are like our compass pointing in good, curative, beneficial directions: Avoiding, as best we can, killing, anger, stealing, harsh words, lying and selfishness ... not only for the benefit of our own hearts and personal healing (hate and anger will damage your life, their opposites will mend it), but for the whole world.
Alas, the wars and violence will not end soon (I hope someday LINK): Until we mature as a species, bullets will be met with bullets, bombs with bombs. The killing will continue, the world left bloodied, uglier with each violent act. If all of us join in, the whole world will be turned into a battlefield, civilization in ruins. Thus, it is our Buddhist duty to oppose the killing by bringing life, to clean and repair the destruction by nurturing beauty, to stop the violence so that children can live and thrive in peace. We are a kind of soldier too, fighting for the opposite of inhumanity and cruelty.
I heard someone say that one person can do nothing. This is patently not true. For example, I know stories of ex-soldiers who knew war first-hand, who were wounded themselves with scars both visible and hidden, who returned from battle to work for peace where they could. One, a police officer, worked in his city to diffuse many dark situations, and was honored by the community for his efforts. One person may kill one or ten people, but another person may take action to save 100, 1000 or more. Last week, a school teacher was killed by one sad boy in America, but in any school in America, a single teacher can help hundreds of children during their teaching career, sometimes truly saving kids whose lives are in physical and psychological danger. I also know an ambulance driver who has rescued hundreds, doctors who have saved thousands, even if not every patient can be saved. And when people unite ... one person joining with ten people, a hundred or millions ... the possibilities are endless. Big change can result.
Perhaps most representative is my late friend who, having killed a child while driving intoxicated in his 20s, carried the weight of that tragedy all his life. But, rather than diving back into drugs and the bottle to forget, he established a charity which helped thousands of children, saved many of them from hell, helped so many to grow and have fruitful lives. He did this to answer for the evil Karma he had done in taking one life. Truly, our good karmic actions should far outweigh the harms we do, and it is our life work to leave this world a little better for our having lived. It can be small things done or big, in the world, our own country, town, neighborhood and even family. We never know the big effects that even small, nearby actions might bring, even far away.
I know that good and evil exist in this universe because we humans do good, sometimes do evil, and we are the world acting with our hands. When we do good, when we act with the wisdom and compassion of Kannon, it is then that Kannon's 1000 hands are our hands. We bring Buddha to life in this world when we act as a Buddha would act. Sadly, when we act with greed, anger, violence, jealousy and other divided thoughts in ignorance, we truly bring the devil to life in that place. Evil exists in this world when human beings do evil, but fortunately, good exists in this world when we do good.
So, rather than fall into anger, hate, "othering," frustration, fear and other despair ... instead, save others, and thus save your own life too. Meet anger with forbearance, intolerance with ample tolerance, division with union, violence with "waging peace," dishonesty with honesty, frustration with endless patience, fear with calm as best you can. Don't let the ugliness win.
Gassho, J
stlah
PS - If anyone would consider to join Jukai (Undertaking the Precepts) this year, there is still time: JUKAI LINK
Our Podcast Talk this month is on like theme: TREELEAF PODCAST
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