Sorry for running long...
Reflections on a day in Akko, 1983
A friend recently showed me some photos of a walk around Temple Bruer. This is a small, quiet picturesque place in rural Lincolnshire, (England) surrounded by arable farm land.
But Temple Bruer was previously held by the Knights Templar (as were many other areas of Lincolnshire). Wool was a very important source of income for the Templars, so many sheep farms and storehouses/barns/warehouses were owned by, and helped to fund, the Templars.
When I lived in Israel I visited Akko (Acre) and the Templar coastal fortress there. You can still see 12th century graffiti that the crusaders scratched into the walls with knives - some of it, perhaps the last action of a soldier in a foreign land before his life was cut short.
The Templars, and other Crusaders, caused so much harm to Muslims, Jews and other non-Christians. The Crusades took place between 1096 and 1291. It was 1291 when the siege of Acre (Akko) took place and the fortress was captured by the Muslim Mamluks.
I never thought of it at the time. But this day in 1983 was a bearing witness day for me. I really felt the suffering when I touched the stones of that castle, even though the Crusaders and their innocent enemies died hundreds of years ago. When I think of it, I still feel the weight of those past wrongs now. I knew that Crusaders from England (perhaps not my direct ancestors, but maybe) caused suffering and death in a foreign land, through the misguided view that those who refused to convert to Christianity, should be killed.
Without being able to name it as such then, that really was a day of bearing witness for me. Perhaps pivotal in my Buddhist practice.
I think of all those ancient Knights Templar locations in Lincolnshire as war memorials. Whether they are churches, barns or fields, they are all places to remember the misguided and the dead on both sides.
Temple Bruer
Akko Fortress
Gasshō
Seiko
Stlah
Reflections on a day in Akko, 1983
A friend recently showed me some photos of a walk around Temple Bruer. This is a small, quiet picturesque place in rural Lincolnshire, (England) surrounded by arable farm land.
But Temple Bruer was previously held by the Knights Templar (as were many other areas of Lincolnshire). Wool was a very important source of income for the Templars, so many sheep farms and storehouses/barns/warehouses were owned by, and helped to fund, the Templars.
When I lived in Israel I visited Akko (Acre) and the Templar coastal fortress there. You can still see 12th century graffiti that the crusaders scratched into the walls with knives - some of it, perhaps the last action of a soldier in a foreign land before his life was cut short.
The Templars, and other Crusaders, caused so much harm to Muslims, Jews and other non-Christians. The Crusades took place between 1096 and 1291. It was 1291 when the siege of Acre (Akko) took place and the fortress was captured by the Muslim Mamluks.
I never thought of it at the time. But this day in 1983 was a bearing witness day for me. I really felt the suffering when I touched the stones of that castle, even though the Crusaders and their innocent enemies died hundreds of years ago. When I think of it, I still feel the weight of those past wrongs now. I knew that Crusaders from England (perhaps not my direct ancestors, but maybe) caused suffering and death in a foreign land, through the misguided view that those who refused to convert to Christianity, should be killed.
Without being able to name it as such then, that really was a day of bearing witness for me. Perhaps pivotal in my Buddhist practice.
I think of all those ancient Knights Templar locations in Lincolnshire as war memorials. Whether they are churches, barns or fields, they are all places to remember the misguided and the dead on both sides.
Temple Bruer
Akko Fortress
Gasshō
Seiko
Stlah