to not forgetting

[Robert McCarthy]

I found this within an article on engaged Buddhism on the net and the author was unattributed.

“The only dream worth having…is to dream that you will live while you’re alive
and die only when you’re dead. That is. To love. To be loved. To never forget
your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and
vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To
pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate
what is simple. To watch. To try to understand. To never look away. And never,
never to forget.”

This paragraph very much caught my eye. Each of these phrases is powerful and inspirational, so simply and eloquently expressed.

[Robert McCarthy]

hey thats the article I was reading Sujatin and it is an excellent posting! I found that the author is Melbourne based and I will check out the groups she has been working in.

[Sujatin]

Very moving, thank you! I found, on searching, that it came from '11 Arundati Roy, The Algebra of Infinite Injustice', referenced in this excellent posting from Jill Jameson:

Buddhism and Peace: Buddhist solutions for war, terrorism and conflicts and the way to reconciliation and harmony.

Sunday 14 May 2006

Buddhism and Peace: Buddhist solutions for war, terrorism and conflicts and the way to reconciliation and harmony. Engaged Buddhism: a Buddhist’s place is in the struggle!

By Jill Jameson

Buddhist practice is not just a quest for harmony, but also a celebration of difference. There are no Buddhist solutions for war, terrorism and conflict – just the continuous dance of turmoil and change. Engaged Buddhism responds to oppressive social structures, abuses of power and human rights, as well as exploring the root causes of conflict and aggression. It is about being fully alive, recreating the present in body and heart. This is the practice of peace.

……………………………………………………………….

I am speaking from my practice and experience in the Zen Buddhist tradition, and as a socially engaged Buddhist or activist – one who has been responding to human rights and social justice issues. This paper has partly arisen out of our discussions in our recent Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) meetings – and I am grateful for the feedback and support from these friends - as well as summarising some of our responses to war, terrorism and conflict over the last couple of years. My involvement in networks such as BPF, International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), the Deep Ecology Network (based on the transformative work in the world of Joanna Macy), and our solidarity with such movements as the Zapatstas in Mexico, have been inspiring vehicles for change and heart connection, for exploring and responding to some of the many forms of suffering in the world.

What is this term ‘socially engaged’ in reference to Buddhism, with its many meanings? And how does this relate to ‘engaging Buddhism’? ‘Engaged’ in one sense, has come to refer to practice as action in the world, as distinct from practice on the cushion, or of meditation rather than engaging with life. By emphasizing engagement, the focus of practice shifts from an exclusive identification with meditation to an inclusion of ethics and social justice issues, and at the same time, these social issues inform our practice. There is no separation. In this sense, we are already engaged, with life itself. So ‘engaging Buddhism in Australia’ may refer to this inclusive process, a reaching out, dialogue across the boundaries with other traditions and practices, engagement with war and peace, engagement with death and life itself. This may be easier to talk about and agree to, and - as always - harder to put into practice. And of course, action alone can be a trap, as all too often, we can experience burn-out as activists. Maha Gosananda, who has led peace marches (Dhammayietra), across Cambodia since 1990, reminds us that; ‘Non-action is the source of action. There is little we can do for peace without peace in our minds…..Making peace, we begin with silence – meditation and prayer’.

Thich Nath Hanh, a great peace activist from Vietnam has said that, “Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help”.

However, even the ‘helping’ can be problematic, if not done is a spirit of reciprocity, of learning from each other, as has been said by Lilla Watson, an Aboriginal elder: ‘If you have come to help or solve my problems, you are wasting my time, but if you come because your liberation is bound up with mine then let us work together’.

What are the Buddhist solutions to war, terrorism and conflict? There are no solutions, just our responding, to the continuous dance of turmoil and change. There is a koan or story in the Book of Serenity shared with me by Augusto Alcalde, which I would like now to share.

Kuei Shang asked Yang Shan, ‘If someone says, “All beings are in a disorderly karmic consciousness, and there is no basis to rely upon, how would you respond”.’

This is pointing to disorder as a quality of our minds, which we see as our disturbing thoughts which come and go, and a disorderly world whether in politics, relationships or religions. In terms of karmic consciousness, there is always disorder, turmoil and change, through our conditioned and habitual responses. So how do you respond? We often create a sense of order and purity with a veneer of a perfect or peaceful self or community, fooling ourselves, and avoiding the disorder of our self-centred lives. Not to question the order of the conspiracy of our greed, ignorance and personal ambition, deepens the disorder and potential conflict, and makes up this very world.

Thus change is the very nature of our lives, with its pain, suffering and conflict until we see into the essential nature of our lives. Our Western tendencies draw us to finding solutions, often in the process, band-aiding the symptoms, or using words to convey a form of harmony or the ‘right’ answer, rather than looking into the root causes. But to see that answers are never clear, that all conflict is multi-dimensional, is to see that there is only the question and the great mystery, coming forth as this very life, and action in the world. Just the responding, heart open and listening, open to possibility and joy. One of our vows as Zen Buddhists is to ‘liberate the many beings’. Starting right here with myself, looking into my own forms of greed, hatred and ignorance, seeing how we are harming ourselves, our planet, and all of life, and standing up to injustice. Without answers or ‘a fixed form, we can come forth, and from there, showing right action, freeing ourselves, freeing the many beings’. Peace is the Way.

“There is no way to peace. Peace is the Way”, as one of our BPF T-shirts proclaims. Buddhism is often presented as a quest for harmony, but it is often not realised that harmony is not achieved only by sameness, but ‘by learning to handle difference in creative ways’. Seeing the ‘other’ as no other than myself. In terms of responding to conflict and war, we need to experience the ‘not-knowing’ deep in our hearts before we can creatively respond.

Our other BPF T-shirts says, “ A Buddhist’s place is in the struggle”: we should not ‘confuse the goal of peace with the absence of struggle’. Buddhism was an inspired protest against an oppressive conservatism, superstition, greed and racism at the time of the Buddha. In many Buddhist groups today, there has been a growing conservatism, with a tendency to focus exclusively on helping people to realise their Buddha Nature. To re-awaken the radical spirit of Buddhism we need to question privilege, and oppression of indigenous peoples and women in many parts of the world, and strongly protest the waging of war by the most powerful nations- causing untold suffering. Many in the West are so alienated from the political process they no longer see any connection between spirituality and society. We just need to remember to open our eyes and hearts to the world around us, to the people living on the streets, the damaged children in detention centres, the loss of innocent lives through military invasion, to the agendas that are driving the ‘war on terror’. Not turning away from this suffering. Asking the hard questions. Responding….in whatever way we can.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the inspiring and fearless leader of Burma, who has spent so many years under house arrest, is an example of this just responding, in the face of enormous provocation and suffering of the people of Burma. She urges us to remember that, ‘we are in relationship all the time…finding liberation through living, outwardly and inwardly at the same time’……and ‘love is an action…not just a state of mind’.

Buddhist Peace Fellowship responses to war and conflict:

Through our Buddhist Peace Fellowship group in Melbourne, since September 11, we have been working on such issues as finding peace in our own backyard. This has involved exploring ways in which we are complicit in various forms of global violence, as well as learning about models of non-violent resistance, deepening our understanding around the impact of detention on asylum seekers and a critique of militarisation and power. We have facilitated a range of workshops on working with conflict and fear, reaching out to different communities, participating in varying networks, and celebrating our diversity and solidarity on issues of injustice. Even our Buddhist identification, if not a barrier, has at least been questioned, as we respond to issues from our shared humanity, and learn from the ‘other’. We have learnt from the perspective of the Zapatista, that ‘we are in the process of humanising’- that the birds have it together, the trees, the wombats etc- it is just we human beings who are still in process, but with potential to learn from conflict and war.

In our BPF ‘conflict transformation’ workshops, we have found that looking fear in the face dissolves fear - fear of the other - which is often the basis of conflict. This comes out of the practice of looking at one’s own needs and fears, and the needs and fears of others. Things shift as we look into our fears …and find that the face of ‘the other’ is no other than oneself. Fearlessness is not the absence of fear but the willingness to face it. And admitting fear is transformative, a total act of courage, and becomes a point of strength.

We have sought dialogue with Muslim communities, joined one of these communities in their celebration of Eid, and shared platforms at peace rallies organised through ANSWER (Act Now Stop the War End Racism) and the Victorian Peace Network based at the trade union movement head-quarters. It is here that we have our meetings and sit together in the Basement Dojo at Trades Hall. We have walked together in diversity, reflecting our multi-cultural roots, diverse faiths or none at all, being unified in opposition to war in Iraq. Connecting with the struggle for justice, peace and dignity for all- and yet no struggle at all.

Our workshops on working with conflict have drawn on underlying Buddhist principles and a range of frameworks and orientations, as a means of transforming fear and despair into empowerment and action. Central to this process is the ‘truth mandala’ introduced by Joanna Macy, which enables us to own and honour our intense feelings of pain and suffering. This can be a deeply connecting and transformative experience, transforming fear into trust; sorrow’s other face is love, and out of anger comes a passion for justice. One of the goals of this work Macy says, is to help people experience their interconnectedness and self-healing powers after “reframing our pain for the world”, as a basis for future action and healing . The Brahma Viharas is a practice Joanna Macy also introduces to non-Buddhists. If we really touch this place we could send ‘loving kindness’ to our enemies, and experience the Way to peace. As Macy says - and this is included on our BPF flyer - conflict is a wake-up call.

“…the world itself has a role to play in our liberation. Its very pressures, pains, and risks can wake us up…release us from the bonds of ego and guide us home to our vast true nature.”

Another facilitator at a union based workshop, ‘Beyond Power games’ drawing on her practice of vipassana meditation, but without using Buddhist terminology, helped participants see their habitual trigger points to conflicts as a means of raising awareness and introducing choice.

Learning of the face of the ‘other’, at one of our Buddhist Peace Fellowship meetings, a worker from the Foundation for Survivors of Torture shared with us the powerful stories of two of her clients, asylum seekers who had experienced detention. This was in effect a re-experiencing of torture far more devastating for the asylum seekers who thought they were escaping this in coming to Australia, compounded by the expectations of freedom. Our personal responses have been to find ways to support the various asylum seeker and refugee projects and collectives, as the present government seems immune to both truth and moral arguments regarding mandatory detention and their crimes against humanity.

And there are the stories of resistance, of possibility, of strength through community and joy in the dance. This reflects what we have been learning about the Zapatista Way in our Buddhist Peace Fellowship meetings over the last few years, in our relationship of friendship and solidarity with the Zapatismo. We learnt something about the history of the movement since 1994, of Old Man Antonios’s discussion of Aboriginal needs and their myths, and how things began to work when the Zapatismo realised that listening at that stage was more important than saving lives. We heard how, despite the imminent loss of their lands, that the indigenous peoples demonstrated their support for the Zapatismo but didn’t want war. We were inspired by their process of ‘leadership’- to command by obeying the rule - which they also see as ‘by asking questions we walk’, so that both the asking and the question is then the ‘leader’. They have created forums where everyone could share ideas, recognise the rights of indigenous people, respond to injustice, and work for respect and dignity for all, and for a ‘world in which all can abide’. They talk of ‘tender fury’, and despite their revolutionary background, have more recently protected indigenous communities in non-violent ways.

From Argentina, we have also been inspired by the strength of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who through their persistence and great courage, contributed to the fall of the ruthless military dictatorship that ruled Argentina. And they continue working today to find the 500 disappeared children who still do not know their identity.

Toni Packer challenges our practice of peace and peace fellowship with many clear and direct questions, which bring awareness that we still have a long way to go! “Can we convey that self-centeredness is at the root of war? That our cherished group identities, in which we seek security, are also the cause of violent confrontation and collision?….In working for peace, if that is what I am doing, do I understand deeply, inwardly, that peacefulness and self-centeredness cannot coexist? That when the self is in operation there can be no inward and outward harmony?”

International Network of Engaged Buddhists responses to threats of war and terrorism.

How do we struggle against the ongoing inertia in the face of conflict, terrorism and war? In mid 2002, I travelled to Ladakh, the northernmost part of Kashmir in India, as part of my ongoing involvement and work with the Ladakh Nuns Association through the INEB Women’s program. Arriving in New Delhi en route to Leh in early June the situation was tense. At the time, most countries were strongly urging travel to India to be avoided, with the threat of possible nuclear war. People I spoke to en route- Indians returning home, people interviewed by the BBC and people in the streets- were all saying, "yes, there should be a war. Things can’t be worse than this- a war might help"! Where was the voice for "no" I wondered? And why was the ‘yes for war’ so strongly expressed?

How do we mobilise awareness and develop strategies for non-violent change in the face of violence, mounting engineered fears, acceptance of the war on terrorism and the threat of nuclear war? Edward Said had recently advocated more involvement of grass-roots leaders of civil society on both sides of, in this case, the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. It seems to me that, in the case of the Indian/ Pakistani conflict, many factors contributed to a pro war advocacy, possibly underscored by fear. But significantly, the root causes of the conflict in Kashmir, since well before the time of partition in 1947, have never been addressed.

Through the Ladakh Nuns Association, we asked the head of the Ladakh Buddhist Association where was the voice for ‘no to war?’ He quickly organised a meeting of all the leaders from the major organisations in Leh, where there was immediate receptivity to the idea of a peace vigil. A wide spectrum was represented from Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist leaders, political representatives from the Communist to the Congress parties, and representatives for example, from the taxi union and the shop owners. Two days later 5,000 people - about one third of the population of Leh, including many school children, joined a walk through the main streets of Leh up to a sports ground, where the brief speeches were televised and relayed nationally. Our banners gave voice against war. For example: "Say no to war. Say yes to saving all beings" "We are all brothers and sisters" "Peace, Shanti, Gede, Amon" (English, Hindi, Ladakhi and Urdu words for peace) "We have a responsibility to protect mother earth and each other".

But equally as powerful as the message was the strength and solidarity of a wide political, social and religious spectrum, speaking out – rather than passively accepting what seemed to be inevitable. “It is time we insisted on listening," wrote Isabel Hilton about Kashmir. Arundhati Roy took this further, ‘we must listen to the non-violent poor, and must allow for peaceful change before violent change becomes inevitable’. But she stressed that we also need to find ways to strengthen, support and get involved in our non-violent movements, in solidarity with the unheard voices.

A meeting on ‘Peacekeeping in an Age of International Insecurity in the Asia-Pacific region’ convened by Ajarn Sulak Sivaraksa in Thailand early 2003, brought together peace activists, trainers in conflict transformation and leaders from local organisations to discuss preventative strategies and options for peace-keeping. The meeting reflected strong vision and commitment at grass roots levels in the south Asian region, and a wide range of skills appropriate for working with conflict. Issues taken up included networking, informing ourselves about un-reported issues, and seeking opportunities for giving a voice to the voiceless and the un-reported sides in a conflict. Friendship and solidarity for each others’ issues emerged, with the awareness that even if we make little difference, we would be there for each other as we strengthen our community.

Some relevant Buddhist teachings from far and wide.

Teachings on avoiding harm and violence to others are venerated by all Buddhist traditions, and Buddhists are perhaps more likely to ‘walk the talk’ regarding conflict and war than other religions. However, they may also be more likely to take an extreme non-violent position, expressed in terms of avoidance, or justification, such as saying ‘things are perfect as they are’. I feel we have much to learn from other traditions, such as the courageous Liberation Theologians in Latin America, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Australia and a range of Christian community out-reach programs. How can we encourage more dialogue, working together and learning from each other?

Deep listening is a central practice in our response to suffering, conflict and war….listening to the cries of the world, as Avalokiteshvara herself. Reaching out, embodying the pain and suffering of the other, and touching compassion. This allows other parties to resolve their crises and to be empowered by these. Things shift. Conflicts are transformed. Negotiation and other forms of active non-violence are less harmful that military solutions.

But freedom and joy arise out of the struggle, as life itself.

“The only dream worth having…is to dream that you will live while you’re alive and die only when you’re dead. That is. To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To watch. To try to understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.”11

This is the experience of love…beyond opposites, love that makes the world go round.

In the words of the Buddha: ‘For hate is not conquered by hate: hate is conquered by love. This is a law eternal’

Jill Jameson, February, 2004

11 Arundati Roy, The Algebra of Infinite Injustice

The Dhammapada, Translated from the Pali by Juan Mascaro, Penguin Books, 1973, verse 5, p35