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"Scaling-Up" Mindfulness, Compassion, and Community
Thursday, June 19, 2008

 
Dear Still Water Friends,

This Thursday evening at Crossings (and Sunday evening in Columbia), we will conclude our exploration of Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Calming the Fearful Mind: A Zen Response to Terrorism.

For me, the central question of the book's last chapter is: What can we do to not be overwhelmed by the suffering, violence, and confusion in the world?

Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) notes: “Despair is the worst thing that can happen to us.” Thay's suggestions for countering despair seem to be asking us to take action on three levels.

First, we do what we can to reduce suffering, violence, and confusion in our own lives. Thay explains:

Everything we are looking for we can find in the present moment, including the Pure Land, the Kingdom of God, and our Buddha nature. It is possible for us to touch the Kingdom of God with our eyes, our feet, our arms, and our mind. When you are mindful, you are concentrated. When your mind and body become one, you need only make one step and there you are in the Kingdom of Heaven. When you are mindful, when you are free, anything you touch, whether it is the oak leaves or the snow, is in the Kingdom of Heaven. Everything you hear, the sound of the birds or the whistling wind, all belong to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Second, we live mindfully with those around us: We stay calm and present, we speak lovingly, we listen compassionately. We create a zone of safety around us:

You can’t feel safe if you’re not in good communication with the people you live with or see regularly. You can’t feel safe if those around you don’t look at you with sympathy and compassion. In the way you speak, sit, and walk, you can show the other person that she is safe in your presence, because you are coming to her in peace. In this way, you build confidence. Your peace and compassion help the other person feel very safe. This allows her to react to you with compassion and understanding, and you, too, will feel safer. Safety is not an individual matter. Helping the other person feel safe guarantees your safety.

Third, and most challengingly, Thay suggests we “scale up” the practices we use with those around us in order to build a community of nations. Thay considers the European Union to be a hopeful example:

I’m very inspired that countries have acted on the wisdom of nondiscrimination. They’ve put aside national interest to a large extent and have understood that the well-being of the whole of Europe is their own well-being.

What we most need now is a world community:

If the United Nations could become a true community, the tensions between various countries could be taken care of by the Sangha of the United Nations. The United Nations’ General Assembly could also be a place where people learn to listen to each other as brothers and sisters. We could stop acting in the name of national interest. . . .

We can’t allow things to continue as they are. Every day people die, every day bombs explode. If people don’t believe in the United Nations as a true Sangha, it’s because it’s not functioning that way. Instead, each country wants to use it to their own advantage. And mass violence continues without intervention. If the United Nations can become a real Sangha body and if the Security Council can become a true instrument of peace, we could act quickly and solve many of the problems of violence around the world. Some people say the UN is hopeless, and that we should destroy it and start with something new. But the UN is already there and it is what we have. The UN is our hope.

There is a wonderful organic logic at work here. Mindfulness, compassion, and community are what we most need to not be overwhelmed by despair in our own personal lives. And mindfulness, compassion, and community among nations are just what the world most needs in order to nourish life. As we are able to understand and live these truths, we become more integrated, joyful, and hopeful, and the world community is better able to resolve differences and reduce suffering.

This Thursday and Sunday, we will begin our discussions by sharing whether, for each of us, Thay's suggestions really answered the question "What can we do to not be overwhelmed?"

Warm wishes,

Mitchell Ratner
Senior Teacher

Displaying The Light Of Wisdom
by Thich Nhat Hanh, from Calming the Fearful Mind: A Zen Response to Terrorism

Whether or not the twenty-first century becomes a century of spirituality depends on our capacity of building community. Without a community, we will become victims of despair. We need each other. We need to congregate, to bring together our wisdom, our insight, and our compassion. The Earth is our true home, a home for all of us. We invite everyone to look deeply into our collective situation. We invite everyone to speak out to spread the message. If we fail in this task of Sangha building, then the suffering of the twenty-first century will be indescribable.

We can bring the spiritual dimension into our daily life, as well as our social, political, and economic life. This is our practice. Jesus had this intention. Buddha had this intention. All of our spiritual ancestors, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist had this intention. We can display the light of wisdom and come together in order to create hope and to prevent society and the younger generation from sinking in despair.

We can learn to speak out so that the voice of the Buddha, the voice of Jesus, the voice of Mohammed, and all our spiritual ancestors can be heard in this dangerous and pivotal moment in history. We offer this light so that the world will not sink into total darkness. Everyone has the seed of awakening and insight within her heart. Let us help each other touch these seeds in ourselves so that everyone will have the courage to speak out. We must ensure that the way we live our daily lives doesn’t create more terrorism in the world. Only a collective awakening can stop this course of self-destruction.