This past Saturday, at Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, thousands of suffering beings inflicted further suffering upon thousands of other suffering beings, believing that to do so would bring happiness.
Names have been given to the perpetrators and the victims -- Muslims ran amok, killing and injuring Buddhists, and burning Buddhist temples -- yet, in the reality of things, it is impossible to distinguish between them.
We can sit around and work up a fine head of steam "for" and "against" the components of this affair -- a self-righteous fury that causes our blood pressure to rise, our bodies to perspire, and our eyes to weep. We can even entertain thoughts of doing an equal if not greater wickedness upon those we perceive as foes.
Theirs was a thoroughly wicked deed, was it not? We'll have to deal them out come Shambhala time, won't we?
We can think that way, or we can sit down and calmly consider the matter as Lord Buddha would have wished.
The images that are being shown around the world do tend to excite the emotions, but our young monk friend in the picture above seems to have them all trumped.
2 reader comments:
Kindness then again kindness. We're upset for the real reason of suffering and the path to end or diminish suffering being attacked. We can deal with the storm of hurt then pause at the eye of that storm and take the negativity and hurt upon our selves and make sincere prayers and demonstrate sincere actions of our core wish, that beings abandon the cause of suffering namely negative emotions an embrace the compassion and love that make this existence so sweet.
Buddhist cultures has never been very good at violence and war. As history marches on people like the monk in the picture have been steadily removed from the gene pool. Leaving the murderous victors to spread their dysfunction.
I have become resigned to the fact that the greatest have over run by the basest. Now with climate change and nuclear weapons in their hands I wonder if humans have enough good character left to survive.
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