Precepts-Not-Politics: Aid, Life and Death

[Hosai]

I have avoided posting to this thread because I feel that politics ha e become so divided in the United States, that there is no longer room for civil discourse.



I have been alive long enough to live under 10 presidents in 11 administrations. In those 5 decades the pendulum has swung both ways and everytime there was a shift, it felt like the world as we knew it was ending for the minority party. Yet, we the people are still here.

As a retired military person, I have faith in the American people, that if things do go wrong that they will stand up and end any tyranny.

I feel none of this will change as long as we keep playing the US vs Them game, and come to the table in civil discourse to compromise on the issues to reach an acceptable agreement. Until then, the pendulum will swing wildly, with half the population thinking the other half are ignorant, deplorable and other name callings we have witnessed.

Are you a betting man? ($200?) I guarantee you this time it's different... Just because you've never seen a real war (that wasn't solely about American economic interests) (or a catastrophic stock market collapse before a war) doesn't mean it can't happen...

You Write as if "half the population" is just the United States as if that was the only thing that mattered...


_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Shoshin]

I have avoided posting to this thread because I feel that politics ha e become so divided in the United States, that there is no longer room for civil discourse.

One post said we must look at the facts.

1. The fact is 6 presidents have stopped all government spending on 8 occasions to assess the spending issues, from both parties, and the aid was resumed.

2. The USAID department had questionable fraud that needed to be stopped. However, the portions to send food, medicine, etc to help the poor has been turned over to the State Department responsiblity.

3. The current administration was in power before, and the world did not end.

I have been alive long enough to live under 10 presidents in 11 administrations. In those 5 decades the pendulum has swung both ways and everytime there was a shift, it felt like the world as we knew it was ending for the minority party. Yet, we the people are still here.

As a retired military person, I have faith in the American people, that if things do go wrong that they will stand up and end any tyranny.

I feel none of this will change as long as we keep playing the US vs Them game, and come to the table in civil discourse to compromise on the issues to reach an acceptable agreement. Until then, the pendulum will swing wildly, with half the population thinking the other half are ignorant, deplorable and other name callings we have witnessed.

I stand for everyone to live their life how they want, and I have and will do so again to fight so that those freedoms stay secured.

Lastly, never underestimate the power of 1 person standing up to change the world. Gandhi, King, Mother Teresa, and many others have proven how 1 person can make a difference.

In metta, I stand with you all.

Gassho,

Douglas

Satlah

I appreciate that your comment comes from a place of respect and willingness to understand one another.
I see things differently and I suspect that one of the main reasons might be that we have access to different informations and pieces of news. So, we reach different conclusions. Isn't it scary?
It makes me be interested and curious about reading the US media.
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts

Gassho
Satlah

[Ddixon]

Are you a betting man? ($200?) I guarantee you this time it's different... Just because you've never seen a real war (that wasn't solely about American economic interests) (or a catastrophic stock market collapse before a war) doesn't mean it can't happen...

You Write as if "half the population" is just the United States as if that was the only thing that mattered...


_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

Hosai,

I was speaking about the US population and the division that has caused this hate in America, not the worlds.

I respect your opinions, and the things you have expressed concerns over. I would request you do the same for me. You have no idea of what I went through or endured, how many pointless lives I have seen ended to soon, or the tolls that the 8 years of combat has taken on me. So, please do not pretend to tell me what real war is.

Gassho.

Douglas

[Onsho]

Thanks for sharing. I didn't know her. I'll check the book out. I really need to "cleare up many of my personal conflicts with the world" too
I cannot find the link to the course. Can you share it?

Gassho
Satlah

Yes, there is a waiting list currently. She has a newsletter that I would describe as empowering and non-overwhelming, should you have space for that.

https://www.transformativeprograms.com/esj-certificate-program-waitlist-2023

Gassho
Onsho
SatLah

[Hosai]

Hosai,

I was speaking about the US population and the division that has caused this hate in America, not the worlds.

I respect your opinions, and the things you have expressed concerns over. I would request you do the same for me. You have no idea of what I went through or endured, how many pointless lives I have seen ended to soon, or the tolls that the 8 years of combat has taken on me. So, please do not pretend to tell me what real war is.

Gassho.

Douglas

Thank you for sharing that, Douglas. I respect your experience and the toll that combat has taken on you. I would actually be really interested in hearing more about what you’ve been through, if you’re open to sharing.
I know quite a few veterans....both American and Canadian...who have struggled with the realities of war and the reasons (often support of oligarchs dreams of expansionism) behind it.

Living near one of the largest military bases in Canada, I’ve had many conversations with friends who enlisted young, often without fully knowing the broader political context (often do to a lack of education and poverty). Some have since become deeply critical of the wars they fought in, while others stand by their service but still wrestle with its meaning.

I also hear a lot about the differences in training and military culture between our countries. A few of my friends are currently on a joint exercise with the US in Alaska, and from what they’ve told me, it’s been rough...serious accidents, equipment failures, and a training standard that seems harsher than what we’re used to. it must suck feel that expendable...

At the end of the day, I think we can agree that war is a terrible thing, no matter the reason. And I certainly don’t want to create more division—I’d rather listen and understand... but I suppose I never would have known had I not brought it up...

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Shoshin]

Yes, there is a waiting list currently. She has a newsletter that I would describe as empowering and non-overwhelming, should you have space for that.

https://www.transformativeprograms.com/esj-certificate-program-waitlist-2023

Gassho
Onsho
SatLah

Thanks!!
Gassho
Satlah

[Rich]

Generosity is very important for individuals and countries. Especially rich countries like usa. May this be a temporary stoppage of aid

sat/lah

[Ddixon]

Thank you for sharing that, Douglas. I respect your experience and the toll that combat has taken on you. I would actually be really interested in hearing more about what you’ve been through, if you’re open to sharing.
I know quite a few veterans....both American and Canadian...who have struggled with the realities of war and the reasons (often support of oligarchs dreams of expansionism) behind it.

Living near one of the largest military bases in Canada, I’ve had many conversations with friends who enlisted young, often without fully knowing the broader political context (often do to a lack of education and poverty). Some have since become deeply critical of the wars they fought in, while others stand by their service but still wrestle with its meaning.

I also hear a lot about the differences in training and military culture between our countries. A few of my friends are currently on a joint exercise with the US in Alaska, and from what they’ve told me, it’s been rough...serious accidents, equipment failures, and a training standard that seems harsher than what we’re used to. it must suck feel that expendable...

At the end of the day, I think we can agree that war is a terrible thing, no matter the reason. And I certainly don’t want to create more division—I’d rather listen and understand... but I suppose I never would have known had I not brought it up...

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

If i speak of it, it will not be publicly on the boards out of respect to others. I have served with many great men and women from Canada, Britain, Australia, Japan, Korea and many other nations and I have respect for all those that serve.

As I have spoken in my Iintroduction the military changed me, and I became some one that was no longer happy with what I saw in the mirror. I am working to get back to who I was before then (a free spirit, more intuned with the energies in the universe).

That is why i have been seeking a teacher to aid in advancing my journey further than I can on my own.

Gassho,

Douglas

Satlah

[Bion]

That is why i have been seeking a teacher to aid in advancing my journey further than I can on my own.

I think you have good spiritual friends here and a teacher that can definitely help you with what you're saying!

Gassho
sat lah

[Jundo]

As I have spoken in my Iintroduction the military changed me, and I became some one that was no longer happy with what I saw in the mirror. I am working to get back to who I was before then (a free spirit, more intuned with the energies in the universe).

That is why i have been seeking a teacher to aid in advancing my journey further than I can on my own.

This is one stellar reason that we try to keep this Zen place apart from "me vs. you, mine vs. yours," opinions and things to argue about, even "I'm right and you are wrong."

That is because some folks (all of us in some way) need healing from that, and should taste a realm in which there is no "me who is not you, mine that is not your," and no opinions necessary because everything is Right (Big R). The best way to introduce that to folks is to make a place free of divisions and opinions. It should also be a place free of hate and violence, excess desires, excess clutching, frustration and fear ... which is what the "safe place" of a Buddhist Sangha is.

In fact, so many problems of the "f*cked up world" (pardon my French) are due precisely because people cannot see beyond "me vs. you, mine vs. yours," opinions and things to argue about ... and thus poor Douglas and countless others were sent to go fight some of "them," who in turned, wanted to shoot "us," about some opinions or fights over my land or yours. The best thing that a Buddhist Sangha can give the world right now is, truly, not more arguments and opinions about who is right and wrong, but a view beyond "right verses wrong," where everyone (like monks sharing space in a cramped monastery) get along, have space for all, and all are nurtured.

Our not fighting, not taking certain stances ... IS a great and powerful political stance about how the world should be, even if it is not yet so now.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Hosai]

This is one stellar reason that we try to keep this Zen place apart from "me vs. you, mine vs. yours," opinions and things to argue about, even "I'm right and you are wrong."

That is because some folks (all of us in some way) need healing from that, and should taste a realm in which there is no "me who is not you, mine that is not your," and no opinions necessary because everything is Right (Big R). The best way to introduce that to folks is to make a place free of divisions and opinions. It should also be a place free of hate and violence, excess desires, excess clutching, frustration and fear ... which is what the "safe place" of a Buddhist Sangha is.

In fact, so many problems of the "f*cked up world" (pardon my French) are due precisely because people cannot see beyond "me vs. you, mine vs. yours," opinions and things to argue about ... and thus poor Douglas and countless others were sent to go fight some of "them," who in turned, wanted to shoot "us," about some opinions or fights over my land or yours. The best thing that a Buddhist Sangha can give the world right now is, truly, not more arguments and opinions about who is right and wrong, but a view beyond "right verses wrong," where everyone (like monks sharing space in a cramped monastery) get along, have space for all, and all are nurtured.

Our not fighting, not taking certain stances ... IS a great and powerful political stance about how the world should be, even if it is not yet so now.

Gassho, J
stlah

And yet not talking about it at all and having a culture of silence is oppressive and is not conducive to people understanding and changing their minds about their hardened opinions.

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Jundo]

And yet not talking about it at all and having a culture of silence is oppressive and is not conducive to people understanding and changing their minds about their hardened opinions.

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

We are not "not talking about it at all," but rather approaching and understanding these matters in a new way, putting down opinions for a moment before picking them up again, opening minds with boundless mind before folks close their minds again.

I am not trying to persuade Kamala voters to like Trump, or the opposite, but to show them something beyond both sides that holds both sides.

It is a way to "change minds" release "hardened opinions" that one does not encounter in the arguing, debating, "me vs. you" world.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Hosai]

We are not "not talking about it at all," but rather approaching and understanding these matters in a new way, putting down opinions for a moment before picking them up again, opening minds with boundless mind before folks close their minds again.

I am not trying to persuade Kamala voters to like Trump, or the opposite, but to show them something beyond both sides that holds both sides.

It is a way to "change minds" release "hardened opinions" that one does not encounter in the arguing, debating, "me vs. you" world.

Yes clearly we are talking about "it". But in many cases we have been told that we are not supposed to talk about certain subjects. This has led many to interpret this as a "silence is best" culture at Treeleaf.

I agree there is a place for silence and a place to drop division.... that is on my cushion.

Here in the forum there is me and there is you... There is Donald Trump and Elon Musk, there are ICE officers at the door the and people are armed and protecting their neighborhood from Neo-nazis in Ohio. There are people losing their jobs and and the stability of a very precarious economy being threatened.

There... now back to my cushion...

_/\_
sat/ah
hōsai

[Ddixon]

I think you have good spiritual friends here and a teacher that can definitely help you with what you're saying!

Gassho
sat lah

I hope so.

Gassho.

Satlah

[Jundo]

Precepts-Not-Politics ... stories like this, human lives at risk, are the concern. Was there no better way than turning off the aid at once? How many children and others will die? Assuming these reports are true, it represents the effects in just one corner of the world ...

~~~
No doctors for sick children. This is the reality of Trump’s aid freeze in remote northern Thailand

... When the Trump administration ordered a 90-day freeze on almost all international aid, halting the US’ entire global development network overnight, the camp hospital was forced to shut its doors, sending shock waves through the refugee community.

Video posted by refugees on social media showed patients at the center being lifted from their hospital beds and carried out in hammocks covered in blankets.

Rosella was moved to a nearby improvised health center, along with other patients with chronic conditions. But there are no longer any doctors to treat her.

Numerous aid workers in northern Thailand described widespread panic and confusion following the sudden suspension of aid, especially among those whose work provides life-saving services to some of the world’s most vulnerable and impoverished people on both sides of the border.

Some told CNN they only had a month and a half of funding left to feed tens of thousands of people.

“We have never faced a problem like this before,” said Saw Bweh Say, secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, which represents refugees in the Thai camps. ... Basic services such as health care, education, sanitation, water and food are provided by international aid donors. In Mae La, and six other camps, those funds come almost entirely from the US – the world’s largest aid donor – through the International Rescue Committee.

Though the camp hospitals are more akin to field clinics, with tin roofs and intermittent power, they are the only source of health care for tens of thousands of people.

“If it’s an emergency, how can we face the situation? That burdens a lot of people here,” said Ni Ni, 62, who has heart failure and kidney disease.

Without medical oxygen, “I will die,” she told CNN via video call from Mae La.

...

An IRC spokesperson said they had to start shutting outpatient departments and other facilities in the camps following the stop-work order. Management of the medical facilities, equipment and water system has been transferred to Thai authorities and camp commanders, though the IRC continues to source medicine and fuel using non-US funds.

Teams of refugee medics, midwives and nurses are working round-the-clock helping to plug the gaps, while families scramble for alternative treatment for their loved ones.

“Karen families donated medicine and oxygen tanks, but that’s not enough,” said Pim Kerdsawang, an independent NGO worker in the border city of Mae Sot.

Compounding their concerns is the cost of food. Feeding more than 100,000 refugees across all nine camps for one month costs $1.3 million dollars, and the organization that provides the food and cooking fuel says it has only enough money to last for a month and a half.

...

The pain created by the US aid freeze goes beyond the refugee camps.

CNN spoke to about a dozen NGO and aid workers in the impoverished border region, some of whom requested anonymity as they feared reprisals from the US government, who said basic services were disrupted and staff laid off due to the Trump administration’s policy.

They include cuts to vaccine, education and resettlement programs, domestic violence shelters, anti-human-trafficking initiatives, safe houses for dissidents, and help for displaced people.

https://us.cnn.com/2025/02/11/asia/thailand-myanmar-refugees-us-aid-freeze-trump-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

Gassho, J
stlah