Amida in the Middle East

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Comment by juditta Ben David on September 4, 2009 at 7:31pm

We had a lovely meeting here in Israel at Kobi and Orna's house a few weeks back. A sweet time on a friday for some chanting and meditation. Thanks for times of recollection and presence. I have just moved to a new house in Clil, lots of small errands and arranging. People are invited for times of meditation.

Comment by yaakov matri on June 29, 2009 at 4:54pm

Shalom/ Salaam Hussam,
We enjoyed very much our meeting in TBH this month and hope for more meetings in the near future. It is good to hear from you through this website. Welcome to this group!
Namo amida Bu
Yaakov and Orna

Comment by Hussam Al-Nawab on June 29, 2009 at 12:34pm

Shalom/Salaam Yaakov and Orna,
It was so lovely to meet you both recently on The Feeling Buddha retreat and I am glad to finally be able to join and take part in some way in this important group.
Namo Amida Bu,
Hussam

Comment by juditta Ben David on May 26, 2009 at 6:58pm

Hi, for more info about Buddhism in Israel, you might like to see www.middleway.org, (engaged buddhism), and http://www.buddhism-israel.org/links.aspx where there are links to several Buddhist centers and communities (sorry but the other pages of this website are in Hebrew, mainly it is a webiste that was created lately to make connections between the various "sects" here).
I support Yaakov, there is great curiousity in the psychotherapy field as to the connections and influence between Buddhist views and Western Psychology. Most as I found it are not practicing buddhists.
Apparently there are also Buddhist communities in Arab countries, but usually of the foriegn workers that reside there.

Comment by yaakov matri on May 24, 2009 at 8:29pm

I am adding this comment for the second time, as I am afraid something did not work well here last night:

Dear all,

It is encouraging to see that some members of Friends of Amida have joined the Middle East group. As the discussants have already hinted, this troubled area is in a great need for serious people who can help.

Joaquim asked about the role Buddhism can have in the area. Unfortunately – and this is a sad sign of the conflict – we, in Israel, have very little contact with people who live in the Arab and Muslim countries. Orna (my wife) and I myself have some good Arab friends who live in Israel, but we feel it is not enough. So we do not know about Buddhist activity in Arab countries.

Here in Israel there seems to be a growing activity of Buddhist groups. To my knowledge, there are some groups who practice and study seriously, and some Sanghas practicing together. There are many retreats offered to the public. There is also a strong interest and activity of Buddhism in psychotherapy circles. As far as I know, the activity and interest are very much around meditations practice. There are teachers – monks and nuns – from the Tibetan schools and Theravada school who come to Israel several times a year to give teachings and retreats. There are also some Zen teachings and practice here. There are frequent Vipassana retreats of 5-10 days.

Orna and I myself are the only members of Amida- Shu here in Israel. In the last few years I am leading some Buddhist Pure Land study groups for psychotherapists, and both of us opened this year a similar study group for non- professionals.

Will all this activity bear some political influence? Can it change the situation? Can it be that Buddhism, as it so happened in the East, would spread throughout the area, become known to many people from all walks of life, that its massage and spirit of living in harmony and peace, become known and understood by the masses, by politicians, by leaders? I doubt this wish will materialize in the near future.

But I think that the growing interest in Buddhism here in Israel might point to the fact that some Israeli people would wish to find a middle way – a spiritual path, which will perhaps help some of the people to move more freely, spiritually speaking, in the narrow path between religious extremists from both sides of the conflict; in between the floods of deep rooted fears and suspicions which encompass so many of us here in the area.

With love
Namo Amida Bu
Yaakov

Comment by yaakov matri on May 23, 2009 at 8:31pm

Dear all,

It is encouraging to see that some members of Friends of Amida have joined the Middle East group. As the discussants have already hinted, this troubled area is in a great need for serious people who can help.

Joaquim asked about the role Buddhism can have in the area. Unfortunately – and this is a sad sign of the conflict – we, in Israel, have very little contact with people who live in the Arab and Muslim countries. Orna (my wife) and I myself have some good Arab friends who live in Israel, but we feel it is not enough. So we do not know about Buddhist activity in Arab countries.

Here in Israel there seems to be a growing activity of Buddhist groups. To my knowledge, there are some groups who practice and study seriously, and some Sanghas practicing together. There are many retreats offered to the public. There is also a strong interest and activity of Buddhism in psychotherapy circles. As far as I know, the activity and interest are very much around meditations practice. There are teachers – monks and nuns – from the Tibetan schools and Theravada school who come to Israel several times a year to give teachings and retreats. There are also some Zen teachings and practice here. There are frequent Vipassana retreats of 5-10 days.

Orna and I myself are the only members of Amida- Shu here in Israel. In the last few years I am leading some Buddhist Pure Land study groups for psychotherapists, and both of us opened this year a similar study group for non- professionals.

Will all this activity bear some political influence? Can it change the situation? Can it be that Buddhism, as it so happened in the East, would spread throughout the area, become known to many people from all walks of life, that its massage and spirit of living in harmony and peace, become known and understood by the masses, by politicians, by leaders? I doubt this wish will materialize in the near future.

But I think that the growing interest in Buddhism here in Israel might point to the fact that some Israeli people would wish to find a middle way – a spiritual path, which will perhaps help some of the people to move more freely, spiritually speaking, in the narrow path between religious extremists from both sides of the conflict; in between the floods of deep rooted fears and suspicions which encompass so many of us here in the area.

With love
Namo Amida Bu
Yaakov

Comment by juditta Ben David on May 23, 2009 at 2:40pm

Whow, Hedonofanes.... quite a fast forward forceful move... and also so many concepts, some of which I have no idea how to put togther.. I wish that all the people here in the middle east would know all of these, maybe giving the right names to things would solve the fight??
Not too sure, and then Yes, a lot of power games of all kinds and sorts is the just of it.

Let me share here a funny event, or not so funny, that I encountered last week. Vinyettes from the life here. When in Tel Aviv I like to take taxi rides, I leave my car up north take the train in and roam the city with funny/angry/talkative taxi drivers, you get to know many things about the society through these.. and get some rest from stressful streets. SO, I stop this cab and whilst sitting in I find out that the driver is a palestenian from the occupied territories, or the west bank like we call it here, someone that had a larger concept of the world and decided that he will go to the big city, he's been doing this for maybe twenty years now, maybe more. We talk abit after the news on the radio has just announced that Obama has suggested a peace solution to the middle east, the driver was laughing at the President of the USA, "what does he know?! ".. he said, the world threw all the jews to this land, cause they did not want to deal with them, and now 22 arab countries need to beg Israel. Well, this was a surprise... some of the jewish people here and some intellectuals abroad believe that the Arab world has pushed the palestenians back to Israels' border, cause they didn't want to deal with immigrants... The west feels it needs to beg the 22 arab countries.. And from both sides I guess the truth is not exactly seen. And, Yes the taxi driver too has stated that if it were for us the lay people we would have lived in peace with no problems if it were not for the leaders !

A world of paradoxes, the middle east was according to the historians a place where many people, armies, religious and political groups wanted to own, even before the rise of nations, and oil. Since the days of Solomon.. For some reason the West wanted to have a flag in Jerusalem, and then the Arab nations as well. Sometimes i wonder how can a hill, not even a mountain in European terms, create such a vortex... and in a land that was quite arid and still has a lack of water.
One issue not raised and that needs to be also cradled here, is the amount of emotions and attachment that has been created in this region.

As for education, most of the Arabs around do not know about the plight of the Jewish people, nor about the holocaust, not even about world war two... When they hear the Iranian president say the Holocaust they repeat it cause it seems to them an act of power and defiance. We were in Africa for a volunteer project and there we were sure that being a group from Israel the African women will know that we come in solidarity cause of the jewish history.. yet, we found out about subtle ways of patronising, and taken for granted, such as that that not one of the women there or the single man (that was a political figure) knew about the Holocaust.
What is happening more and more, and inshalla may it be happening more, is the getting together of people from various cultural groups and religions here in this small country, to talk out their hearts, to get to know each other, to ask the wierdest questions, to share their histories ( it seems like people need to share these before they accept going beyond) and their point of views. We had such a meeting in the Sinai just a few weeks back, Egyptians, jordanians, Palestenians, and Israelis. Although most of us there intend peace still we had to practice patience and heartful deep listening, needed to stop and sing abit together, eat together, wash in the sea together, and then try to tackle yet again maybe some questions relating to our concepts of each other, as well as to different value systems affecting our conversation.

Hope not too long,
a taste of "milk and honey"
:-)

Comment by Kenny Lewis on May 22, 2009 at 11:05am

Dear, hedonofanes although I dont have answers to many points raised, I think your comment is worth full marks 10/10. Hopefully we can all together discuss.

Comment by hedonofanes on May 22, 2009 at 10:28am

I was interested to see the beginning of a Middle East group here on Amida. I have a number of thoughts that crowd in on me as I reflect on Joachim's motivations about it.
So these are not really in any well thought out order. And I beg your forbearance as I spill them onto the page. These are thoughts that I have been trying to integrate and in a sense I am using this opportunity to tease and test them. I have numbered them because they are just thoughts that vie for a place as I try to brainstorm and see with perspective and numbering helps to manage their expression. Forgive me if I sound like a hippy or aging New Ager who has smoked too many spliffs in his time! This is where I am coming from though and I realise that I have a lot to learn particularly about Pureland. I make assertions that sometimes I might have trouble defending and which I would be happy to see challenged.
1. I feel that ecumenism is the only answer. Yes, for myself I can call myself Buddhist because it allows me the room I need to see clearly and integrate rationlity with its profound insights.
2. But Buddhism is only one of many religions/philosophies that have been expressions of human higher being.
3. The last thing we need when we think about the horror of human history as we survey the Middle East is an idea that we might proselytise in any sense here. The blowing up of those Buddha statues in Afghanistan....the fundamentalism of distributing Bibles in Afghanistan and in Iraq are just two sides of the one coin.
- Is it a Zen monk who said "If you see the Buddha, kill him!" ?
4. I believe Buddhism needs to concentrate on working in the West, which it is doing well I would have thought. It is the politics of power and identity that have organised our world and in particular where we now find ourselves in the Middle East.
5. Exploitation, empire, colonialism, the rise of the nation state, and now globalisation have moulded and continue to mould our world.
6. Man has evolved and as our weapons have become deadlier the imperative to further our self awareness increases exponentially.
7. Education and the rise of democracy are two of a number of keys to man's evolution. Questioning, dialoguing with a view to understanding, and openness and a sense that we are all brothers and sisters and that we all deserve a decent life.
8. The West needs to look at itself and examine the seeds of antisemitism and the holocaust that resulted from it.
9. Competing empires --> war--> revenge ( Versailles)--> the rise of Hitler--> the holocaust-->the messiness of the creation of Israel--> siege mentality--> projection ( many thanks to Sigmund Freud ) of antisemitism into an unjust displacement of a people.
10. A confluence of Zionism ( identity) with materialism (oil) --> ( greed) in the US, is playing out here in the Middle East.
11. In relation to the latter of these..the idea that we measure our health or prosperity or wealth in terms of "economic growth" .... with its bedfellows of consumerism and speculation in all its various forms. This current economic collapse is truly breathtaking in its implications, don’t you think?
12 Thus, it is the West, it is us, and the path which it/we are leading us all down, that needs our attention.
13. Education, thinking, testing, rationalism, a rejection of anything for which there is not reasonable evidence. Otherwise we are liable to repeat the tyranny of earlier centuries, of ...”we know best, we have the truth”
14. - This is why I am interested in Amida I think!
15. Could ecumenism be a project think tank that we Buddhists could be well placed to lead in? But don’t we need to set our own house in order first and decide on the basic tenets of a Buddhism that transcends differences and leaves alone how many angels can fit on the head of a needle?
16. If we peel away the cultural baggage of Buddhism as we observe it in its many manifestations, ( Engaged Buddhism?) and test it with what we have learnt as rational human beings from our history we are beginning to get at how we might understand the Middle East which arguably is the eye of the storm..

Comment by Joaquim Monteiro on May 17, 2009 at 5:54pm

Dear friends form Amida middle East:



I have two motivations for entering in this list. The first one is that I have a strong interest in any presence of Buddhsim in this region. The second one is that I would like to have a chance to think seriously about any contribution Buddhsim can do to help in the peace process in this troubled region. So, I would be very glad to receive any comemnts about those matters.



Thank you very much-Gashô.
Joaquim Monteiro- Shaku Shoshin.