Many of us these days are feeling pulled into the strife and agony of the people in the middle east, and are unsure of what to do, and how to think about these things. There are countless opinions being offered in the news, but most of them are just repeating the values and thinking that got us here in the first place…
We’re right to be alarmed – something in us is waking up when that happens, but if our response is only grief, and then even more anger and confusion, we’ll have missed this opportunity to think deeply about the nature of war and peace, and to begin to create the kind of world we all want to live in.
I will write out a few thoughts then on how the Dharma shows a way out of conflict, to a lasting peace. At least this much I can do.
From a Buddhist point of view, we can say there are two things to consider here – the external, and the internal.
What we see happening in the middle east is born from what is inside the hearts and minds of the people there. This is often overlooked by those who believe a political, or military action is enough to change things. We need a change in consciousness, to change in any lasting way what we see manifesting in our world. This is always the truth of it.
They speak poetically in Buddhism of ‘the six realms’ – the hell, hungry ghost, animal disposition, human, demi-god and god realms, and these are primarily psychological states. They then manifest in what we feel and see and hear.
I see the so many of the generals now, the prime ministers, and the soldiers as hell beings on this earth. From what they say and from the way they say it, the reveal that their minds are full of hatred, full of fear, and full of thoughts of revenge. Hatred is one of what they call the three poisons in Buddhism, along with greed, and ignorance. How could these people ever possibly create anything other than hell on earth?
Shantideva describes what is happening today:
Although wishing to be rid of misery,
They run towards misery itself;
And although wishing to have happiness,
Like an enemy they ignorantly destroy it.
– and this is true of all those who believe that violence, right up to going to war will accomplish their aims. We are all related, in every moment of our lives, and what we do to others we do to ourselves.
As the poet Hafiz wrote:
I have come into this world to see this:
the sword drop from men’s hands
even at the height of the arc of their rage
because we have finally realized
there is just one flesh we can wound.
We have a prayer of compassion and a prayer of loving kindness in Buddhism that says,
May all beings be free from suffering
and the causes of suffering
May all beings have happiness
and the causes of happiness
and this means we have to know what causes give rise to what results.
To speak for a moment of religious intolerance, arrogance, violence in the name of religion, and how we got here
If we study the history of war, and the history of world religions we find something shocking – that often the most catastrophic wars are done in the name of religion. I would call this the worst kind of false religion; it is actually delusion, and ’religion’ in name only. Christianity, Islam and Judaism in the past at times, tragically, have all had this in common.
Something of this false religion taking place today in Israel, which it should be known is a settler colony, one that displaced a people, and that has been at war with them ever since its inception. And I say this as someone with Jewish ancestry.
Just looking at the outside, all this seems never ending. In fact, if we just study history from the outside, and then project forward based on what we have seen so far, it’s easy to fall into despair, or worse, anger and wanting to strike out.
Where does war ever end?
The Buddha taught that:
Hatred never ceases by hatred,
by love alone does it come to an end
and this is a teaching that is perennial.
What it means in practical terms is that we should not give rise to anger, or to thoughts of revenge, not even for a moment.
There is a beautiful teaching most buddhists know on love called the Metta Sutta. In it, it says,
Even as a mother protects with her life
her child, her only child,
so with a boundless heart
should one cherish all living beings…
Another related teaching is called ‘the simile of the saw’, and in it the Buddha says, graphically, that,
Even if your limbs were to be cut off savagely by aggressors with a two handled saw, if you were to give rise to anger or thoughts of revenge for even one moment, you would not be carrying out my teaching…
Even then you should train yourselves:
We will think or say no evil words… We will keep a positive intention towards them, without hatred, free from hostility, and free from ill will…
and, beginning with them, we will keep pervading this all-encompassing world with an awareness imbued with good will – abundant, exalted, immeasurable…
That is how you should train yourselves.
Of course, the common, superficial response is to reject sentiments or instructions such as these as unrealistic. We say – We’re only human, after all, and, Isn’t it natural to want to protect ourselves and our families? How stupid such instructions sound! How unrealistic! How idealistic and worthless!
But wait. Just wait. The least we can do is to hold onto this ideal, to keep it in mind, and try to have it guide our lives. How else can war ever end?
Another verse in the Dhammapada says:
How will hate leave him if a man forever thinks,
he abused me, he hit me, he defeated me, he robbed me?
*War ends when there are two conditions:
The first is that we see that all violent thought, speech, and action comes from delusion. These people are deranged, and that’s why they act as they do;
and second, and related to this understanding, is when we refuse to retaliate. We can completely give up the intention to harm in return. This is the second essential.
On the cross, Jesus admonished us to do the same thing, in his last and most powerful teaching, saying,
Forgive them, they know not what they do
Until these two factors come together, wars will continue, but there is always always this possibility, this way out of suffering.
I have heard of gang members here who become fed up -tired of killing and seeing their friends and families wounded and killed, and doing the same to others. At one point they renounced violence and pursued peace. Even though it may have put their lives in danger, they did it anyway, with far seeing love and compassion, and out of real insight into cause and effect.
There is a meme going around that says, ‘If we understood interdependence we would forever give up all acts of hostility.’ Actually, I think this teaching is more profound than that. If we believe in future lives and the possibility of the lower realm experiences – the fear and aggression of the hells, for one, we would not only give up violence, but more importantly, we would completely abandon forever all anger and thoughts of harm.
I know that many soldiers now on both sides of this conflict and their victims are dying with anger and hatred in their hearts – and that it will be disastrous for them. There is no place for such a mind to be reborn other than the lower realms. That mind continues.
If as modern Buddhists or people of no particular faith we don’t believe in past and future lives, that is a much much more limited view, but the same applies even if we are only thinking of our immediate and future descendants:
Hatred never ceases by hatred
by love and insight alone does it come to an end…
Right here is where we also need to take the long view, one that includes and holds in our tender care all those that we see and hear about who are suffering and causing suffering. We want war and violence and injustice and cruelty to end today, and if this doesn’t happen, we can get depressed, or feel it is hopeless, or want to give up.
Thinking in terms of one generation, or a century, or millennia is too short term here. There is another ground we can tap into, and that’s what’s really needed when we’re up against it, as we are now. This is where we need the kind of commitment the bodhisattvas have, with far seeing patience, taking the long view, with great love.
In the words of Shantideva:
For as long as space remains,
and for as long as living beings remain
for that long I too will abide
to dispel the suffering of the world
May we each find peace and the causes of peace within
and share that with all our family, and all the world