#War And (Mind)Peace
Author: Ethereal ButReal
Date: 15th April 2022
Keywords: #peace, #loving-kindness, #meditation, #violence, #suffering
Length: 1219 words
🍨🍨🍨🍨🍨🍨🍨🍨🍨🍨🍨
As we witness what is happening in Ukraine in real time, our heart is
heavy with grief. What an unthinkable tragedy to watch another war
unfold!
From a Buddhist perspective, it means we are seeing the roots of
violence in that country and in ourselves. The fear and courage of
Ukrainians who are taking a stand in the streets of their cities andthose
who are attacking Ukraine are alike suffering.
As being Buddhist, we share a common aspiration to awaken from our
own confusion, from greed, and from anger in order to free others from
suffering.
Buddhism has since its very beginning guided its practitioners to realize
the most radical form of inclusivity, the realization that all beings in all
realms, no matter how depraved and deluded, can be free of suffering
and delusion, and to also see that we are not separate from any other
being, whether RussianVladimirPutin orUkraine’s satirist turned global
figure, President Zelensky.
Meditation has helped us rest in presence and resist the push of
restlessness and worry. Even as voices of anger and outrage boom
across the internet, through the means of meditation, we can relax our
mind and catch a glimpse of relief. This makes suffering ease into light
and gentle freedom blossom. The mind is the basis for everything both
good and bad, and not so good or so bad. Everything is created by mind,
and is ruled by mind. (Dhammapada verse 2)
Some may say meditation at a time like that was immoral. It can feel
that way like hiding or turning away. In fact, meditation does the
opposite. Meditation gives rise to ‘sati’ that meant ‘remembering clearly’. That includes not just remember what is happening in our minds, and
in our personal life, but also what is happening in the wider world.
Based on the clarity we develop in meditation practice, we can see the
world as it really is and we respond to the world with loving-kindness
and wisdom and take right action. When we truly pay attention to the
awful events unfolding in the world like wars, of course we want to help
and want to do what we can to stop them.
War is not a necessary condition of life. The root of war, as with all
conflicts, is ignorance. The potential for ignorance lives in all of us; it
gives rise to misunderstanding, which can lead to violent thoughts,
words and behaviors. So we all have to be very careful not to water
these seeds and not to allow them to develop roots and grow.
When one country attacks another, it is out of great fear and a kind of
collective ignorance. Consequently, they send many young men to the
battle field to kill and to be killed. The rulers of these countries think
more power means more happiness.
But when we look deeply, we see that happiness does not come from
possessing something or someone; it comes from loving-kindness and
compassion, from helping to ease suffering in our mind.
Through the practice of looking deeply, we would have seen that the
on-going Ukraine War is entirely unnecessary. The Russian lives could
not be improved through the suffering of another country or the suffering
of their own young men.
People on both sides of war are victims of the ignorance and violence
rooted in their societies and governments. When the rich wage war, it
is the poor who die. Remember, there are no winners.
With the benefit of meditation, we are able to transform our hatred and
misunderstanding into loving-kindness, and transcend our suffering and
to reconcile with the other side to end the violence.
But first and foremost we must be able to be patient. The process of
learning about each other’s suffering to generate loving-kindness will
take time.
We need loving-kindness because it is the antidote to violence and
hatred. There is no other medicine. Unfortunately, loving-kindness is not
available in drugstores. We have to generate the nectar of lovingkindness in our heart. The teaching of the Buddha gives us the means
to do so. It is called meditation.
It is correct to say that without a spiritual dimension and practice, we
cannot really improve the situation of the world through peaceful means. To prevent war, we cultivate nonviolence. We practice meditation to
gain ‘sati’ in our daily life to contain hatred, greed and delusion.
Honestly, we do not need to do much to meditate. Meditation is very
simple, but it needs being supported by a practicing community, be it
monastic sangha or lay community, so that we are able to succeed
more quickly than on our own and to touch the peace and happiness
within us.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, people asked if there will be
an end to the war, and how soon later. I myself have no idea but
according to Buddhist teachings everything is impermanent, including
war.
Sadly, peace conferences have been held so far have environments
where people came and fought each other. We cannot just bring two
sides together around a table to discuss peace when they are still filled
with anger, hatred and hurt.
Peace conferences must create environments that can help people
calm down and see that they are suffering and that the other side is
suffering too. Then reaching peace will be much easier. Peace will
become a reality.
The secret of creating peace is that when we listen to the person on the
opposite side, bear in mind that we have only one purpose that is to
offer that person an opportunity to empty his heart. If we are able to
keep this awareness and loving-kindness alive in us, we can continue
to listen because we are already protected by the nectar of lovingkindness in our own heart.
If we do not practice meditation in order to keep loving-kindness alive,
we can lose our own peace. Irritation and anger will come up, and the
other person will notice; finally the constructive discussion will not be
able to continue.
Violence cannot be ended with violence. The Buddha said that
responding to hatred with hatred can only increase hatred a
thousandfold. Only by responding to hatred with loving-kindness we can
disintegrate hatred.
To prevent war, we have to teach our children the truth about war so
they learn from our experiences and understand that all violence is
injustice. Violence and war are not the right way, that they are not the
right actions to take.
In modern history, we find an example of this nature in Japan. Before
the WW.II, the Japanese people had adopted the violent method to
achieve their goal. One of the methods used was known as hara-kiri, a
form of suicide attack. However, after WW.II, educated people of Japan
rose up to guide people towards the path of peace by giving up violent
means. Thus Japan emerged as a peaceful country.
This miracle occurred by way of dissemination of peaceful ideas
through literature and several public speeches and broadcasts. It
helped bring about a transformation in the mindset of the Japanese
people and as a result Japan became a powerful and peaceful nation
nowadays.
🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷
No comments