July 11, 2005

• MONDAY BOOK
  

  Peace is Every Step
  Thich Nhat Hanh
  

  Browsing in the bookstore yesterday, I found myself in front of the Buddhism section looking for something by the little Vietnamese monk who is a peace activist and lives in the Plum Villlage sangha in France, having been banned from his home country because he dared to encourage both sides in the Vietnam War – North and South – to reconcile. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by none other than Martin Luther King, Jr. and has more than 80 books in print . The more I hear about bombs and terrorism, the more I want to learn how to do peace. And this is the teacher who would know if anyone would. The foreward is by the H.H. Dalai Lama who says:
  

  Although attempting to bring about world peace through the internal transformation of individuals is difficult, it is the only way…Peace must first be developed within an individual. And I believe that love, compassion, and altruism are the fundamental basis for peace.
  

  In a speech in Berkeley in 2001, Thich Nhat Hanh said:
  

  Responding to violence with violence is injustice, not only to the other person but also to oneself. Responding to violence with violence resolves nothing; it only escalates violence, anger and hatred. It is only with compassion that we can embrace and disintegrate violence. This is true in relationships between individuals as well as in relationships between nations. Many people in America consider Jesus Christ as their Lord, their spiritual ancestor and their teacher. We should heed His teachings especially during critical times like this. Jesus never encourages us to respond to acts of violence with violence. His teaching is, instead, to use compassion to deal with violence. The teachings of Judaism go very much in the same direction. Spiritual leaders of this country are invited to raise their voices, to bring about the awareness of this teaching to the American nation and people. What needs to be done right now is to recognize the suffering, to embrace it and to understand it. We need calmness and lucidity so that we can listen deeply to and understand our own suffering, the suffering of the nation and the suffering of others. By understanding the nature and the causes of the suffering, we will then know the right path to follow.
  

  The violence and hatred we presently face has been created by misunderstanding, injustice, discrimination and despair. We are all co-responsible for the making of violence and despair in the world by our way of living, of consuming and of handling the problems of the world. Understanding why this violence has been created, we will then know what to do and what not to do in order to decrease the level of violence in ourselves and in the world, to create and foster understanding, reconciliation and forgiveness. I have the conviction that America possesses enough wisdom and courage to perform an act of forgiveness and compassion, and I know that such an act can bring great relief to America and to the world right away.
  

  This little book I am going to be dipping into each evening on my back porch through the summer is just one example of his down-to-the-basics approach to inner peace. Now that I’m on the downhill slope of my life, I truly want to learn how to drop the thoughtless speech and actions that come out of me each day and find more silence and more smiles.
  

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  Deep Thought: “Whenever I hear the sparrow chirping, watch the woodpecker chirp, catch a chirping trout, or listen to the sad howl of the chirp rat, I think: Oh boy! I’m going insane again.”
  Today I am grateful for: Sinuses
  Guess the Movie: “Hello, can I help you?” “I was in here yesterday, you wouldn’t wait on me.” “Oh.” “You people work on commission right?” Yeah.” “Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping.” Answer: Pretty Woman, 1990. Winner: sherab_zangmo.
  North Korea Okays talks as rice lands in China
  by George Gedda
  The Associated Press
  9 July 2005
  BEIJING (AP) – Ending a yearlong boycott, North Korea agreed on Saturday night to resume international talks this month about its nuclear weapons program, a senior U.S. official said. (Rest of article here.)
  End of Day: 8:35 pm
  + = Weather clearing up for sun.
  - = However it’s going to the 90′s in a few days.

  • 8:23 pm
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