"Of course there is no us and them
But them they do not think the same"
Illumination
Gogol Bordello
How to observe the first vow in the face of violence? "All beings without number, I vow to liberate" What should be our response to suicide bombers, torturers, and those who deliberately inflict violence on others? Clearly, if you sit on the zafu, you cannot do violence. But what of those who do not sit? How to engage them is not clear, aside from simply being in the moment. What is a Zen response to the janjaweed in Darfur?
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2 comments:
This is not intended as an answer like "we should do X in response to violence" but as far as seeing what the cause is. In zazen I at least are many thoughts and feelings of violence and hatred. In attentively watching myself as I go about life, I see what stiffness and attachment to my own way causes me to do the wrong thing. Smaller wrongs than darfur but the principle seems established. Nothing like mindfulness in the face of anger to know we are not other than bad guys. Stop the harm when you can and wait for right action when you do not see what right action is.
I mostly agree, but my concern here how to go beyond just sitting, what to do about the other that is also us. Engagement seems necessary, but in some ways incongruous with the tradition of zazen.
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