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In a battle, the winners and the losers both lose. © The Buddha
Hatred can never cease by hatred.
Hatred can only cease by love.
This is an eternal law.
© The Buddha
The question you raise seems in some ways like a very easy one to answer. The Buddha spoke repeatedly about the five precepts:
Not to kill
Not to take that which is not freely given
Not to engage in harmful speech
Not to engage in sexual misconduct
Not to take intoxicants that cloud the mind
(see, e.g., Discourses X, 178 – 97, and VIII, 25)
What’s the first one? Don’t kill. “Abstention from the destruction of life.” Doesn’t get much simpler than that, does it?
But I don’t pretend for a minute that your question is an easy one. The whole reason that it gets raised as much as it does is precisely because it is not easy. If by killing one person, we can stop the slaughter of many, does that make it right to kill that person? Similar questions arise all along the continuum until before we know it, we’re talking in those old Christian terms about “a just war.” I’ve heard that Robert Thurman, a fairly distinguished scholar and the American translator for the Dalai Lama (and good friends with the Dalai Lama), has said something along the lines of keep it to a minimum but use force to stop further violence. (All that being said about Robert Thurman, he’s not a dharma teacher, he’s a Buddhist scholar only, and there is a real distinction) So reasonable minds can differ.
We can also see that the teachings of the Buddha can be (and have been) perverted for political purposes. I understand that in Japan during WWII there was a distinction made by the Zen Buddhist teachers between the actor and the action, so that one could take a violent action but if one’s heart was pure then there would be no negative karma attached. So, again, reasonable minds can differ.
But when we go back to the basic teachings of the Buddha, it does get very simple. And when we look at some of the truly authentic voices from our time, those who really embody the teachings, it is very simple. Not easy. But simple.
We know, of course, that the Buddha wasn’t creating “Buddhism” but rather was teaching the dharma. In other words, he wasn’t prescribing behavior, he was describing it. He taught about the nature of things – in his words “suffering and the end of suffering.” He said that “the destruction of life, bikkhus, I declare to be threefold: as caused by greed, caused by hatred, caused by delusion.” (Discourse X, 174) And he taught the way to be clear of greed, hatred and delusion. And that is what we think of as Buddhism.
The one who sees most clearly always sees with the greatest compassion. The two wings of the dharma are wisdom and compassion. Joseph Goldstein talks about seeing unskillful actions take place and responding to them as we would respond to a small child who was about to do something that would cause him or her harm. We don’t become angry, we just do all in our power, with all the love in our heart, to stop that harm from happening. And when we understand that actions have consequences, in other words, when we understand the laws of karma, then we see the harm in lashing out as much as we see the harm in being victimized.
The Dalai Lama has said that the Tibetan people don’t suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders, despite the years of incredible suffering that they have experienced, primarily because they have a pretty deep understanding of the laws of karma culturally imbedded in them.
So, then, I turn to 20th century voices to see what our modern bodhisattvas have to offer.
The Dalai Lama refers to the Chinese Army as “my friend, the enemy.” He says that of all his practices and all his teachers, the Chinese Army has been the greatest teacher of compassion for him and his clearest place for practice.
“How can you treat them with compassion?” the Dalai Lama is asked. “They have stripped the temples, they have raped women, they have robbed the culture, they have outlawed the use of the language, they have done all these things. How can you still be compassionate toward them?”
“They have taken so much,” he replied. “I cannot also let them take my mind, my peace.”
Thich Nhat Hanh is another example. You’re better versed in his writings than I am, so I’ll let you let him speak for himself, but I think you’ve really hit the nail on the head with a couple of things that you mention, not the least of which is the story of the Chinese pirates. This is a man who has watched his country be torn apart by invading forces and from within and still consistently teaches love, teaches peace.
Another modern example is that of Maha Gosananda, a Cambodian monk and nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. He leads annual peace marches through Cambodia collecting signatures for the international petition that requests that all countries stop the production and use of land mines (Land mines make almost half the land area of Cambodia unsafe for farming or any other human use, and the country has the world’s highest percentage of people disabled through land mine explosions.) At each stop along the peace march, Maha Gosananda gives a simple dharma talk about “the necessity of removing the land mines in our hearts: Greed, hatred, delusion, as they are the source of the land mines in the ground.” In 1994, the march was caught in crossfire between government and Democratic Kampuchea soldiers, and one monk and one nun were killed and several other marchers were wounded.
And when Maha Gosananda was asked how he helped people who walked with him overcome their fear of explosions or being caught in cross fire, he said, “I tell them we will simply go together, step by step.”
“Our journey for peace begins today and every day. We shall never be discouraged. We shall walk slowly, slowly, step by step. Each step will be a prayer.”
What are the Buddhist teachings on revolution? There you have it. What is more revolutionary, more radical, than responding to hatred with lovingkindness? What is more revolutionary than stopping the war within? And look at who is teaching us these truths in this century: these voices are authentic precisely because of the suffering that hatred has caused them and the people who look to them for inspiration. Another wonderful example of this is Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. Her life is an amazing inspiration.
But the Buddha was no fool and he wasn’t wearing rose colored glasses. He taught of the end of suffering, yes, but the first noble truth is that life is suffering. I mean, that’s how it is. And a big part of the dharma is about opening to that truth. When we believe that the point of life is sense pleasure, or comforts, then naturally we’re not willing to open to suffering. And when we are closed to suffering, when we deny the first noble truth, then we deny ourselves the natural response to that truth, which is the growth of compassion.
All meetings end in separation. All accumulation ends in dispersion. All life ends in death. Nothing is reliable. And it is when we cling to the unreliable, to the changing nature of the world, and try to make it stay still, that we cause ourselves and others great suffering and harm. Suffering arises, the Buddha said, from “association with the unloved, separation from the loved, resisting what comes to us, and holding onto what changes.”
So all that being said, it seems very clear to me that the way to bring about radical change is, as Shimmy says, to embody the dharma. Do as Thich Nhat Hanh recommends – Be peace. It’s a tough one. I’ve been practicing vipassana and metta meditation for gosh more than 15 years now, and I’m still a beginner. But no one said that I was going to become fully enlightened in this lifetime. And you know that enlightenment itself is a moment to moment experience – every moment that you “just sit, and know you’re sitting,” is a moment of enlightenment.
And the cultivation of lovingkindness, like all good spiritual practices, has benefits that aren’t immediately apparent:
One sleeps peacefully;
One sees no bad dreams;
One is dear to human beings;
One is dear to non-human beings;
One will be protected by devas (celestial creatures);
Fire, poison and weapons (external dangers) cannot injure one;
One’s mind becomes easily concentrated;
One’s facial complexion will be serene;
One will die unconfused; and
If one does not penetrate higher, one will be reborn in the Brahma-world (happy realms). (XI, 16)
I’ve spoken before about developing the compassionate heart, but I think that it’s not without merit to mention some of it again. In addition, I want to add a word or two about karma. I’m going to put these in separate posts, though.
(Citations are to the Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, translation by Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi)
Peace.
May all beings be free from suffering.
May the merit of my meditation and any good acts I undertake be dedicated to the happiness and liberation of all beings.
~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha
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Every hundred years, all new people
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