Monks with guns.
"The regime is like a rabid dog," Mr. Zawta says. "It bit us and infected us with militancy. The old ways aren't working – the only solution is to arm the people.
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The Buddha's Words on Kindness (Metta Sutta)
This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in saftey,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.
Peace,
Jordan
4 comments:
The Metta Sutra makes me want to go right now and sit down on the cushion. 'Cause I'm so not there.
When confronted with brutality, surely there's a place for "loving-anger." When the sutra asks us not to hold to "fixed views," how can we remain "gentle in speech?"
Might the monks of Burma speak with both anger and love? Is it possible that gentle words might only produce more suffering?
I need much more practice around this, without doubt. The Zen path calls upon us to respond with wisdom and compassion to the actual truth of the moment.
How do we honor this, when confronted with violence? Don't know...
Barry,
This is a real koan.
They present themselves all the time.
What to do?
I am doing it.
Jordan.
Yeah.
I got a koan myself, only not so flashy, sudden & bloody, nor permeated by evil and suffering and torture on an unthinkable scale.
But it's pretty universal.
It's called "dying parent."
Mumon,
Yeah, that is pretty universal.
I am glad you say it is not so flashy, sudden & bloody, nor permeated by evil and suffering and torture on an unthinkable scale.
jrfountain(at)gmail(dot)com
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