Clear and Present Compassion
Understanding and compassion are very powerful sources of energy. They are the opposite of stupidity and passivity. If you think that compassion is passive, weak, or cowardly, then you don't know what real understanding or compassion is. If you think you that compassionate people do not resist and challenge injustice, you are wrong. They are warriors, heroes, and heroines who have gained many victories. When you act with compassion, with nonviolence, when you act on the basis of nonduality, you have to be very strong. You no longer act out of anger. You do not punish or blame. Compassion grows constantly inside of you and you can succeed in your fight against injustice. Mahatma Gandhi was just one person. He did not have any bombs, any guns, or any political party. He acted on the insight of nonduality, the strength of compassion, not on the basis of anger.
Other human beings are not our enemies. Our enemy is not the other person. Our enemy is the violence, ignorance, and injustice in us and in the other person. When we are armed with compassion and understanding, we fight not against other people, but against the tendency to invade, to dominate, and to exploit. We don't want to kill others, but we will not let them dominate and exploit us or other people. […]
Being compassionate means being intelligent. [...] Suppose you are leading a group of people doing walking meditation, moving slowly […]. But suddenly, it begins to rain. Would you continue to walk slowly, letting yourself and everyone else get soaked? That's not intelligent. If you are a good leader of the walking meditation, you will break into a jogging meditation. You still maintain the joy of the walking meditation. You can laugh and smile and thus you prove that the practice is not stupid. You can also be mindful while running and avoid getting soaked. We have to practice in an intelligent way.
--Thich Nhat Hanh
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8 Past Reflections
On Jun 3, 2018 Boyan wrote :
Very nice post! :)
Compassion is so important, and yet so misunderstood in our society. It does not mean going down to the level of the person or nations suffering - that would be like breaking my own arm because someone else has broken theirs. And that is why there are wars - people fighting back from the same level of consciousness that is attacking them.
Instead, being compassionate and forgiving is to see the Truth in the other, the Love, the Presence, the Beauty. To overlook the pain and suffering, seeing beyond it to what is real. That way, you can stay in that feeling of Love & Groundedness, and act from there. Like Gandhi, this Peace would then extend out to other minds, and help them heal, too.
I thought the last part of the article about the rain during the walking meditation was a bit separate and different to the rest.
Blessings,
Boyan
www.boyanm.com
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On May 16, 2006 pavi wrote :
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On May 16, 2006 guri wrote :
Well said! And it's expressed powerfully in the example that JZ (above) shares about Gandhi too.
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On May 16, 2006 baba hadejia ali wrote :
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On May 16, 2006 Anon wrote :
Can the peace movement talk in loving speech, showing the way for peace? I think that will depend on whether the people in the peace movement can be peace. Because without being peace, we cannot do anything for peace. If we cannot smile, we cannot help other people to smile. If we are not peaceful, then we cannot contribute to the peace movement.
I hope we can bring a new dimension to the peace movement. The peace movement is filled with anger and hatred. It cannot fulfill the path we expect from them. A fresh way of being peace, of doing peace is needed. That is why it is so important for us to practice meditation, to acquire the capacity to look, to see, and to understand. It would be wonderful if we could bring to the peace movement our contribution, our way of looking at things, that will diminish aggression and hatred. Peace work means, first of all, being peace. (p 79-80)
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On May 16, 2006 Lariv wrote :
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On May 16, 2006 JZ wrote :
Gandhi, when he was instructing compassion workers at the Dandi March -- where people stood in lines to get pulverized by the British army -- said this: don't just get hit; look at the man hitting you, look him in the eye with love, and preach a silent sermon. Preach that the love in me is far stronger than the negativity with which you strike. Oppose not the man, for he is divine, but oppose his actions, for they are confused when it harms another being. And know that love will always prevail over hatred, that wherever there is injustice, there will always be forces working for justice, wherever there is weakness, strength will be always be found. And all this from a guy who boldly said -- my life is my message.