Sometimes... I Want to Run

[Nameless]

There are times... there are times when I find it difficult to have faith in humanity. Faith that compassion and reason will prevail over hatred and ignorance. All things are impermanent, so you'd think that hate and ignorance would be too? Perhaps that is naivete rooted in the incidental duality of victory and defeat.
There are times when I want to run away from humanity, succumbing to the pull of quiet solitude in the wilderness writing poetry and meditating as Ryokan did. To do as Theravada Buddhists do and care not for Bodhisattva vows and a race that seems doomed to collapse under its own pride, greed and insanity. In a world where genocide is a valid political action, and murder is downplayed by calling it, "collateral damage," or, "wasting them," what is a Dharma student to do?

Tend, in those moments, to focus less on the "big picture," and more so on what is before me now. I see no violence, no hatred, no greed. To feed the hungry, clothe the cold, give rest to the weary and counsel to the lost. Each one is all, and all is each (and even that's not quite accurate). Each kind act or word travels like ripples in a pond. There are so many ripples, that to look at it all at once is dizzying. Or to look at the even bigger big picture that we are but specks on a pale dot.

I'd be lying though, if I said I wasn't tempted at times to succumb to apathy and forsake the plights of humanity. To give in to my own greedy ideal of no-greed, hate of hatred and an ignorant view on ignorance. This particular rant was inspired by a news article (usually avoid them) about an Israeli lawmaker urging her nation to perpetrate genocide on Palestinian people. "All of them. Men, women and children," she said. Tears filled my eyes and I became nauseous while reading the article. Much metta to those who live in war-torn lands. Offer metta to leaders as well. Leaders who think that murder leads to peace; I hope that they can see for the sake of all that war never leads to peace, that violence creates only more violence.

Gassho,
John

[Joyo]

John, thank you for sharing your thoughts here. I too have times like this, in fact, today is one of them. I know this sounds like a cliche but I just look around and think "where is the love" People are so driven by anger, greed, hatred, and wanting to be right.

The world needs a lot, but just for today, maybe send metta to yourself, think of yourself, do something nice for you.

Gassho,
Joyo

[Nengyo]

This particular rant was inspired by a news article (usually avoid them) about an Israeli lawmaker urging her nation to perpetrate genocide on Palestinian people. "All of them. Men, women and children," she said. Tears filled my eyes and I became nauseous while reading the article. Much metta to those who live in war-torn lands. Offer metta to leaders as well. Leaders who think that murder leads to peace; I hope that they can see for the sake of all that war never leads to peace, that violence creates only more violence.

Gassho,
John

Of course, her statement was made out of her own fear and suffering. I've been rocketed before. It doesn't take many before you feel like lashing out in every direction (one of the reasons they use them unfortunately). It is easy to talk about violence begetting violence, and peace being the answer, but it is different when you feel like you may be killed at any moment from out of nowhere.

Unfortunately, that whole region is so caught up in the politics of hate, retribution, and tribalism that I don't have even an inkling of what could be done other than to sit, say metta, and hope they break the cycle somehow.

Also, you might want to read this. I thought it interesting that two nations are coming unglued while the actual parents of the murdered on both sides are consoling each other. The rest could take a lesson:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/families-murdered-teens-israel_n_5563454.html

[Rich]

Yup, have those moments when I think most of the world is morally bankrupt. And that's when I give myself a big smile and just enjoy what's in front of me.

Kind regards. /\

[Mp]

Yup, have those moments when I think most of the world is morally bankrupt. And that's when I give myself a big smile and just enjoy what's in front of me.

Kind regards. /\

Nicely said Rich! =) I am the same way ... sometimes watching the news and hearing of all the negativity can really play on one's mind. But I know I can just be and wear a sincere smile from my heart. =)

Gassho
Shingen

[Jamie]

"Each kind act or word travels like ripples in a pond. There are so many ripples, that to look at it all at once is dizzying. Or to look at the even bigger big picture that we are but specks on a pale dot."

Thanks for the post John.
I think your inight into the effect of kindness has to be at the fore front of your mind. I work as a nurse in an ocnology clinic and sometimes feel overwhelmed by the sadness around me, as well as the stae of the world in particular. A wise friend gave me a quote- You have 2 ears and 1 mouth, 2 hands and 1 heart - you should use them in that ratio. I took it to mean do the work, do what you can, listen for what has to be done. We also have Zazen, which for me takes care of the heart.
Gassho
Jamie

[Rich]

Thanks Shingen, that's great.

Kind regards. /\

[Byokan]

Hi John,

I feel what you’re talking about. Here is an obviously capable, well-spoken and educated young woman spouting hate and ignorance and violence. Sometimes it’s overwhelming and just seems so hopeless. Even knowing that good things are also happening everywhere, all the time, is not enough of a consolation. The roots of violence, hatred and greed go so deep. Makes me want to crawl under a rock. But I can’t crawl under a rock, really. My best answer is to look at my own life. Where is the violence in me? I may not be committing genocide, but I may be taking part in or supporting violence in a lot of little ways. Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on peace have helped me develop an awareness of this. A good book of his is “Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World”.


Also I think it’s really important to do what you have done here, John, to speak out and let people know what you think and how you feel. Talk to your family, your friends, your co-workers, your elected officials. It’s not a weak hippy-dippy thing to talk about peace, and the more we talk about it, and practice it, and teach our children about it, the more mainstream it becomes. You are so right that war will never lead to peace. Peace leads to peace.

Gassho
Lisa

[Nameless]

We often question so that we can stop questioning, so too we often fight to stop fighting. Thing is, there's always another question waiting just as there's always another fight. Thank you all for your responses, and yes Nengyo it's difficult to imagine how I'd respond in such a situation. When attacked, we often feel the need to counter attack, but this is of little use.

It is definitely good to remind ourselves that hate, fear and violence are not the only things in the world. The news definitely doesn't help. Our brains use an availability heuristic, so we tend to form views based on things that most easily come to mind. They don't generally talk about peace on the news, or acts of kindness. This tempts us into holding the view that the earth is a primary hate-filled and violent place.

Occasionally thunderheads do fill the sky, but I love thunderstorms. Just like those storms, all I can do is sit and let the anger and disgust run through like storms passing over the land. I never say, "This is my storm," so neither should I say, "This is my anger," merely observe it and it will pass, leaving inspiration in its wake.

Gassho, John

[Kaishin]

Thank you for the topic, John. I do want to address this part:

To do as Theravada Buddhists do and care not for Bodhisattva vows and a race that seems doomed to collapse under its own pride, greed and insanity.

I think we should be careful about comparing here. The idea that Mahayanans care about the welfare of the world and Theravadans don't is not valid, I don't think, not in practice anyway. I'm sure there are selfish Zen practitioners and enormously selfless IM practitioners. Maybe Jundo can give some historical background on the differences here, but I thought I should at least bring it up.

[Nameless]

Thanks Kaishin, guessed I was making a gross generalization lol. From what I've read, Theravada practitioners are focused on their "own" enlightenment (which isn't bad at all), but they often do help their communities. I'm sure they have also changed over the years too, just as Zen has. Really only the first part about the Bodhisattva vows was related to Theravada, the rest was my own at the time cynical observations at the time.

Gassho, John

[Jundo]

I want to say that this Samsaric world was a mess in the Buddha's time ... disease, poverty and inequality, ignorance and illiteracy, oppression of women, violence and war. All that mess is why, well, the Buddha started on his search!

The world was so in ancient China, and in Dogen's time. It has been so throughout human history.

But ya know ... sociologists tell us that the last hundred years has actually been the most peaceful and least warlike in human history! Hard to believe, but true. Furthermore, real strides have been made in furthering lifespan and the quality of life worldwide, although we have far to go.

You are less likely to die a violent death today than at any other time in human history. In fact, violence has been declining for centuries. That is the arresting claim made by Harvard University cognitive neuroscientist Steven Pinker in his new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (Viking). ... Just a couple of centuries ago, violence was pervasive. Slavery was widespread, wife and child beating were acceptable practices, heretics and witches were burned at the stake, pogroms and race riots were common, and warfare was nearly constant. Public hangings, bearbaiting, and even cat burning were popular forms of entertainment. By examining collections of ancient skeletons and scrutinizing contemporary tribal societies, anthropologists have found that people were nine times as likely to die violent deaths in the prehistoric period than in modern times, even allowing for the world wars and genocides of the 20th century. Europe’s murder rate was 30 times higher in the Middle Ages than it is today.

What happened? Human nature did not change, but our institutions did, encouraging people to restrain their natural tendencies toward violence. In more than 800 pages of data and analysis, Pinker identifies a series of institutional changes that have led to decreasing levels of life-threatening violence. The rise of states 5,000 years ago dramatically reduced tribal conflict. In recent centuries, the spread of courtly manners, literacy, commerce, and democracy have reduced violence even more. Polite behavior requires self-restraint, literacy encourages empathy, commerce changes zero-sum encounters into mutually beneficial exchanges, and democracy restrains the excesses of government.

http://reason.com/archives/2012/01/1...ne-of-violence

Likewise with regard to worldwide standards of living, although places of terrible poverty remain and must not be neglected ...

By many measures, a revolution in the human condition is sweeping the
world. Most people today are better fed, clothed, and housed than their
predecessors two centuries ago. They are healthier, live longer, and are
better educated. Women’s lives are less centered on reproduction and political
democracy has gained a foothold. Although western Europe and its offshoots have
been the leaders of this advance, most of the less developed countries have joined
in during the 20th century, with the newly emerging nations of sub-Saharan Africa
the latest to participate. Although the picture is not one of universal progress, it is
the greatest advance in the condition of the world’s population ever achieved in
such a brief span of time.

http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.14.1.7

Perhaps it is because it is our time that we see clearest, and we have a faint remembrance of history (combined with the fact that the television now brings all the wars and diseases right into our living rooms for the 24 hour news cycle) that we have such an impression that we live in especially violent and terrible times. We do not.

I am actually hopeful for the world, though we have tremendous problems remaining and many dangers remain.

Gassho, Jundo

[Jundo]

PS - As to the difference between Theravadan and Mahayana, much of the story about how Theravadans are all wrapped up in their own thing is a bit of propaganda created by ... no surprise ... Mahayana folks to compare themselves to the "Lesser Vehicle".

The concept of "Buddhism and Social Justice" may be a rather modern concept for all kinds of Buddhists, North and South, primarily because Buddhism existed in Asia for 25 centuries in only traditional, pre-industrial, conservative, agricultural, class and caste based monarchies and such where ideas of social justice and "civil rights" did not really exist.

Many Buddhist Ancestors were quite passive in the face of social inequalities ... closing the monastery doors to the world outside, or just accepting the hardships of life as "karma" working out ... or emphasizing that "life is suffering", so this world was to be escaped rather than fixed. Buddhism was not so concerned with repairing the world ... and more about not being reborn in it. For the most part, Buddhism really was not focused on charitable work for much of its history. That "compassion" and "saving sentient beings" = "social programs" and such is a popular misconception among many modern Western Buddhists. There were always people during its history who engaged in various civic and charitable projects, but the interest in charitable work really first began in the 19th century because of inspiration from and competition with Christian missionaries who came to many Asian countries then and (for their own reasons) engaged in charitable work such as building schools and hospitals. The Buddhists suddenly felt that they should do the same. Other modernizers of Buddhism continued the trend.

On the other hand, there were many Buddhists of the past (just as in the Present), Theravada or Mahayana, from India to China to Japan to Tibet, who engaged in charitable work too.

Gassho, J

[Jundo]

Oh, and one more thing ... Jews hating Palestinians, Palestinians hating Jews, Catholics vs. Protestants, Buddhist hating Muslims and back ...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/07/world/asia/dalai-lama-muslim-violence/

... all folks driven by anger, by their own fears, by divisive thinking. We must heal all such wounds, see all sides as victims of anger and ignorance. We sit and chant Metta for all.

Gassho, J

[Joyo]

Thank you, Jundo. Those are some very uplifting thoughts!!

Gassho,
Joyo