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Reflections on 9/11/2001 and its aftermath Cont'd
A few weeks ago, I spoke
about my practice of taking one internal action, and one external action daily for world
peace. Every day I light a candle for world peace and do metta, loving kindness
meditation. That is my internal action. And every day, I consciously take an
external action for peace, be it signing petitions, sending emails, clicking on the Hunger
Site, interacting with my neighbors, connecting with people on the street who I don't
know, giving them a friendly hello, smile or nod.
I have one friend, who, while on a business trip
in Florida, read a news story that Middle Eastern restaurants were suffering there,
business was way down, and though not a fan of Middle Eastern food, sought such a
restaurant in which to eat. She told me that she was the only Caucasian in the
place, and that people in the restaurant looked at her furtively the whole time she was
there, wondering what she was up to. When she went up to the cash register to pay,
she let the cashier know of her intentions to simply support their business.
That is an example of an external action.
So the internal and external actions can take many forms. I recommend that you cultivate
an internal and an external daily practice for peace.
I received an email on September 20th, prior to
bombing Afghanistan, that I passed along and am sure many received and sent on as
well, entitled Bomb Them With Butter, Bribe Them With Hope. Here is a portion of that
email.
"A military response, particularly an
attack on Afghanistan, is exactly what the terrorists want. It will strengthen and
swell their small but fanatical ranks.
Instead, bomb Afghanistan with butter,
with rice, bread, clothing and medicine. It will cost less than conventional arms,
poses no threat of US casualties (well that's not exactly true) and just might get the
populace thinking that maybe the Taliban don't have the answers. After three years
of drought and with starvation looming, let's offer the Afghani people the vision of a new
future. One that includes full stomachs."
I for one, believe, that along with trusted
guidance from diplomats, and international experts the world over, this message made a
difference, was received by enough people and enough key people to have made a difference.
I have no confirmation of this as fact. I simply believe it.
There is a need for peace. There is a need
for resolution. The Buddha would say, the resolution for all of humanity, and I
daresay what would bring about world peace, comes about through extinguishing greed,
hatred and delusion. Good luck. That takes tons of work, investigation,
unearthing the roots of greed, hatred and delusion within ourselves, and thousands upon
millions of people doing that same work, in their own ways.
It takes heaps of wisdom, a profusion of
insight, and bundles of skillful action by individuals and millions, within this
conditioned existence of ours, to lessen greed, hatred, and delusion, much less to
eradicate it. For total eradication, it takes the full realization that we, as
separate individuals, do not exist independently from one another. Rather we are
interdependent.
The notion of a separate individual self is an
illusion. Tell that to the families of who have recently lost children, parents,
friends, spouses, their places of livelihood. Tell that to the homeless, and the hungry.
Tell that to the citizens and refugees of Afghanistan living on bread made from wheat
flour and ground locusts, stumbling over little yellow packets with a male silhouetted
figure putting a spoon in his mouth.
Within conditions as we know them, this ultimate
truth, understood and lived by the Buddha, is so very difficult to understand. and to
live. And yet it is possible. If one person can do it, then we all can.
Times such as these, give us the opportunity to
investigate our greed, hatred and delusion and the greed, hatred and delusion of our
collective body.
Words from a Tibetan teaching.
Likewise enemies are as limitless as space.
All enemies cannot possibly be overcome.
Yet if one can just overcome hatred
This will be equal to overcoming all enemies.
All that is unsatisfactory in the world,
All the fear and suffering that exists,
Clinging to the "I" has created it.
What am I to do with this great demon?
To release myself from harm and to free all others from their suffering,
Let me give myself away and love others as I love myself.
If a problem can be solved why be unhappy?
And if it cannot be solved, what is the use of being unhappy?
Whatever we do in the ensuing days, may we
continue to uproot greed, hatred and delusion within ourselves, seek creative
solutions and plant seeds of loving-kindness, tolerance, compassion and equanimity. May we
at times, with the strength of our practice, be the eye of the storm, rather than the
storm itself.
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List of additional Web Resources:
Buddhist Peace Fellowship :
http://www.bpf.org/
The Hunger Site donates food around the world :
http://www.thehungersite.com/index.html
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