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Thread: For Justice & Peace

  1. #51
    Quote Originally Posted by Juki View Post

    "Buddhism is not about getting enlightened -- it's about being kind. If I have a chance at the time of my death to take an accounting of what I've done, I won't be asking how enlightened I've become, I'll be asking how much I've shown kindness to others.
    Oh, sorry, I did not know that enlightenment and kindness were mutually exclusive! Maybe better said that kindness is a facet of the same one jewel.

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  2. #52
    Good point, Jundo

    Gassho
    Sat today, lah
    求道芸化 Kyūdō Geika
    I am just a priest-in-training, please do not take anything I say as a teaching.

  3. #53
    I have no Buddhist wisdom to offer. Only my experience with police. My father was the director of a police training school academy during the 1960s and 1970s in a US city that had major social and racial upheaval. We had riots, burning, looting, the whole thing. I knew many of his fellow police officers and back then most of them were just regular, normal guys who happened to be policemen. I never heard any race hatred from them. This was a time and place when if you were racist you didn't hide it. You let it be known loud and proud. This, by the way was not the South.

    We would have lively discussions on subjects like harassment of hippies, racial profiling, illegal search and seizure, violent subduing of unruly arrestees, clubbing protestors, etc. He was strictly against all of this. As far as he was concerned the police had to obey the law too. Bottom line in regard to today; You can arrest a hostile suspect without them dying. Later when the old guard began to fade away they were replaced by a younger breed who, let's just say, look and act more like these cops under criticism today. I had a couple of frightening encounters with wild-eyed, hostile, aggressive cops in the 1980s myself. I don't know how or why this change in police culture happened.

    I agree that not all police are bad and they do have a hard and dangerous job. I am not anti-police. I knew policemen who did massive amounts of charity work with sick children, animal rescue and adoption, etc. But are the good cops complicit in all this? The cop in Minneapolis had 18 complaints filed against him. Didn't one supervisor, a fellow officer or somebody in authority say; we have to do something about this guy? Is there a code of silence? Do they just look the other way?

    The system is stacked against minorities. Statistics repeatedly prove this. Too many police departments are just rotten from top to bottom. This is why people don't trust or respect them. My grandfather used to say that one of the reasons the Mafia got entrenched in his neighborhood was because the police were so crooked and brutal to the immigrants that when they were wronged they had to turn to the Mafia for justice. Is that where we're headed?

    Gassho
    STlah
    James

  4. #54
    Police should be good and honest. I think most still are, some are not. They should treat citizens with respect and gentle words as much as possible, citizens should treat police with respect and gentle words as much as possible. Excess force should not be used, bad apples should be removed from the force. Those who use excess force should be prosecuted. The system should not be stacked, we need to fix it. Nobody should be crooked and brutal.

    Now that said ...

    Let us sit.

    After sitting, we can get up and start to fix things if we can.

    Gassho, J

    SatTodayLAH
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  5. #55
    Someone asked me my view whether violence is ever justified in Buddhism.

    Various Buddhists will disagree, but I believe that it is sometimes justified if necessary to save life. That may include, for example, use of reasonable deadly force (emphasis on reasonable) as my friend, a police officer, needed to use once to rescue a child being held hostage, or the use of force if one has an intruder in one's home. Even so, we should avoid to act in anger even then, and we should condemn excess force by police or anyone. I think that some groups, such as the Rohingya in Burma, might be justified in some violence if necessary to defend their villages and members from being burned or killed in a pogrom, ethnic cleansing etc.

    I think there has to be some clear connection, however, and no reasonable alternative. Thus, while some might argue that violence in the streets to overturn an unjust system is necessary to "save lives" because members of a minority group are dying of poverty in a situation that is like "ethnic cleansing," burning a Starbucks or throwing rocks at police does not seem directly connected to the goal, and it seems counter-productive and motivated by anger. There are reasonable alternatives, and peaceful action should be maintained unless unavoidable. Violence should only be a last resort.

    This is just my view, I am not the last word on this for other Buddhists.

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    Last edited by Jundo; 06-01-2020 at 05:31 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  6. #56
    Another story I found inspiring, and I hope others will too ...

    While tensions between police and protesters boiled over in some cities, other officers joined the movement

    While some police departments have been accused of being heavy handed in their attempts to control protests that turned violent over the weekend, other departments have tried to reach out to protesters to share their grief and help convey their message of peace.






    More here ...

    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/01/u...rnd/index.html

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    Last edited by Jundo; 06-01-2020 at 07:22 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  7. #57
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    Another story I found inspiring, and I hope others will too ...

    While tensions between police and protesters boiled over in some cities, other officers joined the movement









    More here ...

    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/01/u...rnd/index.html

    Gassho, J

    STLah

    my neighborhood was smashed overnight. i'm not exaggerating. not going to explain what i mean either. i am trying hard not to cry because i don't have time to right now.

    but these photos -- this is like my city also.

    thank you for these photos. this is the good in my city as well.

    gassho, meian st briefly
    My life is my temple and my practice.

  8. #58
    Okay ..... i'm going to wade into this a bit and if it gets pulled, so be it.

    Sorry – it's long. No way around it (for me). And no offense intended …..

    First – I've studied anarchism a bit, and I agree (in theory) with some of its principles. In an ideal society, I think it has a chance of working. But I won't address everything I think about this ideology here because this is not a political forum, and I can't do so without some really salty language at this point. I intend no offense to anyone, but going from 3 months of quarantine to my city being razed and destroyed within 2 days is more than I can handle right now.

    My city is highly diverse, and somewhat polarized. My city is also a Sanctuary City, which I love about it -- we are a sanctuary for immigrants and refugees, which I have advocated to preserve because I strongly believe in this. I don't believe in borders and boundaries that separate people, I don't believe in the concept of "illegal aliens" or "illegal immigrants." We live on one planet, we are one human race. That's my opinion and one of my core beliefs.

    I say that as I hear the helicopters coming in again, and as I've been witnessing people fighting over who is to blame for this whole mess, calling other human beings "animals" "thugs" and much worse. Telling me and others that we need to get guns and .... you can fill in the blanks.

    That is not my way, and never has been. Yes, I am very scared. Our neighborhoods have been destroyed. Businesses burned to the ground, looted. It is senseless to me. This has nothing to do with Floyd, nothing to do with Black Lives Matter. Why destroy your own community? People, families, elderly, children? Calling the military in? That makes NO sense. There is something else at work here, it's not about the protesters. They are addressing the systemic and institutionalized racism throughout the US and throughout our nation's history, and rightfully so. Attacking the police won't solve that, but the protesters themselves weren't doing that. (Not ours, anyway – our police are rather chill for all they got hit with.) Our police commissioner (an African American woman) addressed this, saying that the violence is hindering the work being done inside the system to improve community relations. If people are destroying the progress being made, and alienating their allies in the community -- what good does that do? It only feeds the racism and fuels the calls for a violent crackdown that we really don't want.

    The calls for martial law, military occupation, all-out war in the streets are getting louder -- and we don't want that, at all. (People don't understand what they're asking for.) I don't want that for my kids. We respect the police. For the most part, our cops are okay, and yes, there is bad in every bunch. And yes I am speaking from a position of white privilege, and yes I try to use my white privilege to combat racism, bigotry, and prejudice in all of its forms, and to recognize when I am benefiting from systems built on these injustices. I have a long way to go, but I keep trying. Part of our family is Arab Muslim, our neighbors are Asian Muslim, and most of my medical team is Asian and African American. This violence is hurting all of us.

    Sorry, I am not an anarchist. I respect those who are -- but right now, I am in deep fear for my family's safety, and have no good options. I don't want retaliation -- I want peace, mutual understanding, open communication, and healing. I want to know what the rioters want, what is making them do this. Can't stop the violence without understanding what their suffering is, why they are so angry -- or apathetic, or whatever they are. Happy, well-adjusted people don't throw Molotov cocktails at businesses and launch bricks at cops. Or maybe it's just me, but violence never crosses my mind.

    I'm in solidarity with the protesters, AND I support the efforts of our law enforcement trying to protect our communities in this chaos and destruction.

    Trying to push away the gnawing fear in my stomach of where we seem to be headed, while also weighing the very real worry of my family's safety and having no good or clear answers. I was worried before about the increasing crime and violence in my neighborhood. That was before the looting and the fire-bombing happened. This tells me these people (whoever they are) have no limits.

    Shikantaza, nothing light or fluffy here ..... breathing and sitting in the middle of our undeclared war zone. I said what I said.

    Gassho, meian st
    My life is my temple and my practice.

  9. #59
    Hi Meian,

    When you come to our place, please try to put all the chaos outside down for a time. Do your best not to get tangled in so many ideas and emotions. Few words. Even silence sometimes, and a simple Gassho.

    That does not mean that we don't care. Far from it! It means we care, and wish to see justice and peace, but the first step is to bring quiet to our own mind and peace to the heart. We "just witness" what is happening. I posted this earlier in the discussion, but this "bearing witness" has been taught by the great Bernie Glassman Roshi and others this way:

    "In times of doubt, disbelief, and insecurity, the practice of bearing witness can be an important aspect of our awareness and presence.

    Bearing witness can be defined as acknowledging that something exists or is true. From a Buddhist perspective ... to bear witness is to embrace both the joy and the suffering we encounter. Rather than simply observing the situation, we become the situation. We become intimate with whatever it is ... When we analyze and judge a situation, we normally come to it with all of our ideas and habitual beliefs. We are only able to see it through the lens of our conditioned thinking. But when we shift to the practice of bearing witness, we suspend our analytical thinking and move to a place of open awareness. This allows the witnessing presence to become one with whatever situation we encounter.

    To bear witness, we need to set aside the focus on our own reactions and enter a place of stillness and receptivity. Bearing witness in the world, we are cultivating the same ground of open heart and mind that we practice in our [Zazen]" (Jules Shuzen Harris).


    Why is this our way?

    Perhaps, when the world is screaming, we answer with quiet. When the streets are burning, we respond with cooling waters. When there is hate, we bring caring and love. Like that.

    So, let's us be simple. We want justice and we want peace.

    Let us sit.

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    Last edited by Jundo; 06-01-2020 at 02:47 PM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  10. #60
    Quote Originally Posted by Meian View Post
    Okay ..... i'm going to wade into this a bit and if it gets pulled, so be it.

    Sorry – it's long. No way around it (for me). And no offense intended …..

    First – I've studied anarchism a bit, and I agree (in theory) with some of its principles. In an ideal society, I think it has a chance of working. But I won't address everything I think about this ideology here because this is not a political forum, and I can't do so without some really salty language at this point. I intend no offense to anyone, but going from 3 months of quarantine to my city being razed and destroyed within 2 days is more than I can handle right now.

    My city is highly diverse, and somewhat polarized. My city is also a Sanctuary City, which I love about it -- we are a sanctuary for immigrants and refugees, which I have advocated to preserve because I strongly believe in this. I don't believe in borders and boundaries that separate people, I don't believe in the concept of "illegal aliens" or "illegal immigrants." We live on one planet, we are one human race. That's my opinion and one of my core beliefs.

    I say that as I hear the helicopters coming in again, and as I've been witnessing people fighting over who is to blame for this whole mess, calling other human beings "animals" "thugs" and much worse. Telling me and others that we need to get guns and .... you can fill in the blanks.

    That is not my way, and never has been. Yes, I am very scared. Our neighborhoods have been destroyed. Businesses burned to the ground, looted. It is senseless to me. This has nothing to do with Floyd, nothing to do with Black Lives Matter. Why destroy your own community? People, families, elderly, children? Calling the military in? That makes NO sense. There is something else at work here, it's not about the protesters. They are addressing the systemic and institutionalized racism throughout the US and throughout our nation's history, and rightfully so. Attacking the police won't solve that, but the protesters themselves weren't doing that. (Not ours, anyway – our police are rather chill for all they got hit with.) Our police commissioner (an African American woman) addressed this, saying that the violence is hindering the work being done inside the system to improve community relations. If people are destroying the progress being made, and alienating their allies in the community -- what good does that do? It only feeds the racism and fuels the calls for a violent crackdown that we really don't want.

    The calls for martial law, military occupation, all-out war in the streets are getting louder -- and we don't want that, at all. (People don't understand what they're asking for.) I don't want that for my kids. We respect the police. For the most part, our cops are okay, and yes, there is bad in every bunch. And yes I am speaking from a position of white privilege, and yes I try to use my white privilege to combat racism, bigotry, and prejudice in all of its forms, and to recognize when I am benefiting from systems built on these injustices. I have a long way to go, but I keep trying. Part of our family is Arab Muslim, our neighbors are Asian Muslim, and most of my medical team is Asian and African American. This violence is hurting all of us.

    Sorry, I am not an anarchist. I respect those who are -- but right now, I am in deep fear for my family's safety, and have no good options. I don't want retaliation -- I want peace, mutual understanding, open communication, and healing. I want to know what the rioters want, what is making them do this. Can't stop the violence without understanding what their suffering is, why they are so angry -- or apathetic, or whatever they are. Happy, well-adjusted people don't throw Molotov cocktails at businesses and launch bricks at cops. Or maybe it's just me, but violence never crosses my mind.

    I'm in solidarity with the protesters, AND I support the efforts of our law enforcement trying to protect our communities in this chaos and destruction.

    Trying to push away the gnawing fear in my stomach of where we seem to be headed, while also weighing the very real worry of my family's safety and having no good or clear answers. I was worried before about the increasing crime and violence in my neighborhood. That was before the looting and the fire-bombing happened. This tells me these people (whoever they are) have no limits.

    Shikantaza, nothing light or fluffy here ..... breathing and sitting in the middle of our undeclared war zone. I said what I said.

    Gassho, meian st
    Meian, I am sorry you are living with this. Metta to you, your neighbors, your city, and all who are living with this violence. I hope peace will soon be restored so real work for justice can continue.
    Gassho,
    Krista
    st/lah

  11. #61
    We can have acceptance and work for change (non-acceptance) at the same time.

    We can have stillness inside, yet get up and get moving actively for change at the same time.

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  12. #62
    I woke today with the news that my hometown which is right next door to where I live now had uniformed policemen joining in solidarity with the protesters. This was greeted by people smashing police cars and setting them on fire. One step up, one step back. I saw the videos of this taking place on the very same streets that were burned and looted 52 years ago. The same streets where my father as a policeman had cinder blocks aimed for his head by arsonists on rooftops while he tried to save local merchants from having their businesses burned. The merchants moved out. Storefronts were left abandoned. Businesses and factories moved away. Residents left for the suburbs and homes were divided into apartments owned by out of town landlords who couldn't care less about anything but getting their money. Radical race baiters of all stripes riled people up with hate and fear. Border lines were drawn. My high school, once a jewel of education became a violent, dangerous nuthouse. The city has never really recovered.

    This is the result of violence. This is the result of people refusing to believe that there are problems in the first place.

    Gassho
    STlah
    James

  13. #63
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    We can have acceptance and work for change (non-acceptance) at the same time.

    We can have stillness inside, yet get up and get moving actively for change at the same time.

    Gassho, J

    STLah


    Yes. Your teaching the last 5 years have helped me better understand.

    Thank you

    Doshin
    Still learning, still sitting

  14. #64
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    ... maybe some discussion of what's going on, and who is "right and wrong" would belong in an ordinary discussion on the internet, but maybe we have to look beyond a bit. So, I might suggest that we have to keep somehow focused on seeing something transcendent of all this.
    Amen (and emphasis mine)


    Kevin
    ST

  15. #65
    i understand, Jundo. Thank you.

    gassho,
    meian sat today.

  16. #66
    I said too much for here so deleted it.

    Sitting is best.

    Be Safe, Be Well

    Doshin
    St
    Last edited by Doshin; 06-01-2020 at 09:59 PM.

  17. #67
    Member Onka's Avatar
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    Rural Queensland, so-called Australia
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    We can have acceptance and work for change (non-acceptance) at the same time.

    We can have stillness inside, yet get up and get moving actively for change at the same time.

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    Gassho
    Onka
    ST

    Sent from my SM-A205YN using Tapatalk
    穏 On (Calm)
    火 Ka (Fires)
    They/She.

  18. #68
    This struck me today quite strongly in light of current events that we have been experiencing

    Sat Today

    Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

    Edited to fix img

  19. #69
    If folk want to take some positive practical action, or be better informed on some of the core issues at the heart of this crisis, a couple of people I follow on social media have published some useful links.

    https://linktr.ee/curiouswithjvn
    Jonathan Van Ness

    https://angelatcarr.wordpress.com/20...o-as-a-writer/

    Gassho
    Meitou
    Sattoday lah
    命 Mei - life
    島 Tou - island

  20. #70
    Quote Originally Posted by Meitou View Post
    If folk want to take some positive practical action, or be better informed on some of the core issues at the heart of this crisis, a couple of people I follow on social media have published some useful links.

    https://linktr.ee/curiouswithjvn
    Jonathan Van Ness

    https://angelatcarr.wordpress.com/20...o-as-a-writer/

    Gassho
    Meitou
    Sattoday lah
    Brilliant Meitou!
    Just what I need.

    Gassho
    Anne

    ~lahst~

  21. #71
    A nice interview with an historian about why and how peaceful civil disobedience is often much more effective than violence ...

    Nonviolent resistance proves potent weapon

    When Erica Chenoweth started her predoctoral fellowship at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in 2006, she believed in the strategic logic of armed resistance. She had studied terrorism, civil war, and major revolutions — Russian, French, Algerian, and American — and suspected that only violent force had achieved major social and political change. But then a workshop led her to consider proving that violent resistance was more successful than the nonviolent kind. Since the question had never been addressed systematically, she and colleague Maria J. Stephan began a research project.

    For the next two years, Chenoweth and Stephan collected data on all violent and nonviolent campaigns from 1900 to 2006 that resulted in the overthrow of a government or in territorial liberation. They created a data set of 323 mass actions. Chenoweth analyzed nearly 160 variables related to success criteria, participant categories, state capacity, and more. The results turned her earlier paradigm on its head — in the aggregate, nonviolent civil resistance was far more effective in producing change.

    https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/sto...%20behind%20it.
    Gassho, J

    STLah
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  22. #72
    Thank you for this Jundo. This really helped me articulate the value of non violence in this situation to many that believed the violence had justification.

    Gassho

    Colby

    Sat today



    Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

  23. #73
    At first I thought it is not a Buddhist teaching, but she is speaking of the reasons for protest with non-violence.

    Yes, there is language and there is anger (I would like to think it "righteous indignation" as the is opposed to the violence).



    Gassho, J

    STLah
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  24. #74
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    A nice interview with an historian about why and how peaceful civil disobedience is often much more effective than violence
    The thing is, the protesters aren't violent, for the most part. There are agitators, and, as I'm sure everyone has seen, plenty of police attacking people who are doing nothing at all.

    The thing about civil disobedience is that it works when it has an effect on the economy (cf Rosa Parks; Apartheid; etc.). Currently, with 40 million unemployed, black people can't even go on a mass strike, and with so many businesses closed, their protests won't have any effect on the economy.

    Actually, what is working now is the fact - sadly - that the authorities are perpetrating violence on essentially peaceful demonstrators. I don't think you can call actual demonstrations "civil disobedience" but they are having a very strong effect. The fact that everything is filmed means that it's easy to show all the police brutality, which is enhancing public support of the movement.

    Gassho,

    Kirk

    sat
    流文

    I know nothing.

  25. #75
    Thanks for saying something Jundo. I wish that more Buddhist communities would speak out than those that already have.

    Gassho,
    Mac

  26. #76

    For Justice & Peace

    We have witnessed so much tragedy these last few days. It is heartbreaking in so many ways. Thank you Jundo for your words and making this thread available for us to talk. Thank you to EVERYONE who has participated. We need more dialog like this. We can’t individually solve the problem of systemic racism, but we can certainly do something together that will make a difference. Anger is a tricky emotion. It can make us real dumb, but it can also energize us to drive change in a positive way. Our practice helps us with this. If you are white, please please find a black leader that you trust. Listen to and help this person. Educate yourself. Donate your money. Sign petitions. Protest peacefully. There is so much we can do. Don’t feel like you have to do it all, but do something. It makes you feel better. I promise One of the gifts of right action is the hope of a better future. Don’t give others (not two) the power to take that away.

    ST
    Last edited by Troy; 06-06-2020 at 01:14 AM.

  27. #77
    Thank you, Troy. My sentiments exactly.

    Gassho
    Krissy
    Sat


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Thank you for teaching me.

    I am very much a beginner and appreciate any words you may give me.

  28. #78
    While reading the first few entries of this post I saw a bold example of Us vs Them.
    That is the problem.

    Benidaka
    I sat today.

  29. #79
    I agree, Jundo, 100%.
    Equality and Justice for all.

    Gassho,
    Benidaka
    I sat today.

  30. #80
    An inspiring way to meet anger with peace ...

    A peaceful protest in a small Montana resort town turned ugly Wednesday night when a visibly angry man confronted demonstrators, yelling at them while standing only inches away from their faces. In a video shared on social media, a man is seen yelling profanities at a group of demonstrators supporting Black Lives Matter ... the group starts chanting "peaceful!" to drown out his yelling.

    In a powerful image shared by Samantha Francine, who is one of the protesters, Snowden, a tall white man, is seen looking down on a much smaller Francine while she looks up into his eyes, holding a poster that reads "Say Their Names." Francine, who is biracial, told CNN that in that heated moment with Snowden standing inches away from her face, she felt no fear. ... The 27-year-old protester said the words of her white father, who died 16 years ago, ran through her head: "No matter who the threat is, no matter what the threat is, you look them in the eye so that they know you're human."

    https://us.cnn.com/2020/06/08/us/gir...rnd/index.html



    Gassho, J

    STLah
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  31. #81
    Thank you Jundo and everyone else for your thoughtful comments and insight. I think it's very important we have these discussions.

    I've been pondering the events and currently think that while I probably wouldn't protest violently and I'm aware that only a tiny minority have, I can't condemn or judge people for the way they react to centuries of institutional injustice.

    I've been absolutely shocked by the way some police forces have reacted, it's been unbelievably disproportionate and shows a shocking lack of training or else terribly misguided tactics - I served in Northern Ireland in the late 90s/early 2000s and was involved with many violent riots. We would never have dreamed of behaving like that, mostly because we'd have been arrested ourselves. And while historically the British Army has perpetrated many wrongs in Northern Ireland which I won't try to excuse, they had at least learned how counter-productive violent tactics are.

    With regards to how we react as Buddhists, it seems sanghas (and all individuals) need to proactively think about how we engage with racial bias and take active steps to overcome it and be more encouraging and supportive to people of colour. With this I think we need to do more than just sit in silence because it seems in this case sitting in silence is itself a political act.

    I think the fact we're having this candid conversation is a great start and far better than many others (yeah, I'm looking at you Brad Warner), but there's plenty of work to be done. This isn't to criticise anyone here and is much directed at me as anyone else.

    Gassho,

    Heiso

    StLah

  32. #82
    I find I can’t feel I’m doing good and avoiding harm if I’m not doing something about racism. The best I can do now is work on myself. The Village Zendo has a list of resources on its website, and two books listed there are especially helpful to me in this regard:
    My Grandmother’s Hands, On the trauma of racism, its effects on Black bodies, White bodies, and Police bodies, and how to heal.

    https://smile.amazon.com/My-Grandmot...1218573&sr=8-1

    and

    A Race is a Nice Thing to Have, designed to help White people fully recognize and accept their racial identity, assume the proper responsibility for ending racism, and develop an understanding of how racism impacts their own racial group
    .
    https://titles.cognella.com/a-race-i...-9781516583263

    or on Amazon:

    https://smile.amazon.com/Race-Nice-T...s%2C483&sr=8-1

    Gassho,
    Onkai
    Sat/lah
    美道 Bidou Beautiful Way
    恩海 Onkai Merciful/Kind Ocean

    I have a lot to learn; take anything I say that sounds like teaching with a grain of salt.

  33. #83
    Quote Originally Posted by Onkai View Post
    I find I can’t feel I’m doing good and avoiding harm if I’m not doing something about racism. The best I can do now is work on myself.
    Thank you Onkai.


    Tairin
    Sat today and lah

  34. #84
    Quote Originally Posted by Onkai View Post
    I find I can’t feel I’m doing good and avoiding harm if I’m not doing something about racism. The best I can do now is work on myself. The Village Zendo has a list of resources on its website, and two books listed there are especially helpful to me in this regard:
    My Grandmother’s Hands, On the trauma of racism, its effects on Black bodies, White bodies, and Police bodies, and how to heal.

    https://smile.amazon.com/My-Grandmot...1218573&sr=8-1

    and

    A Race is a Nice Thing to Have, designed to help White people fully recognize and accept their racial identity, assume the proper responsibility for ending racism, and develop an understanding of how racism impacts their own racial group
    .
    https://titles.cognella.com/a-race-i...-9781516583263

    or on Amazon:

    https://smile.amazon.com/Race-Nice-T...s%2C483&sr=8-1

    Gassho,
    Onkai
    Sat/lah
    Thank you for this Onkai
    Gassho
    Meitou
    Sattoday lah
    命 Mei - life
    島 Tou - island

  35. #85
    So many insightful posts here!
    I understand Onka's view and don't think she meant hate speach : it's has to do with the system and the institution of police. I was born in communist Poland ( Onka - your use of the word Comrade makes me boil inside joking) and remember the mistrust and rage towards the police brutality who tortured many people (killing freedom fighting priest J. Popiełuszko), my father had to hide many times from them. Now Poland has democracy and the police has changed too. I witnessed corruption in Indian police, and never really respected this institution until I moved to UK. Some of you may have different stories but I saw the human in police for the first time in UK and I genuinely belive that here they work to protect the people and to be of benefit to people. I can't imagine any other place where police would call a drunk troublemaker "Sir", spoke to him politely and offered him a lift home. When it comes to US - there are good police officers but the system has to change, because as it is now it doesn't benefit the officers (PTSD, etc) neither the society. And hopefully it will - every crisis is a catalyst for change. Let's pray it will be more peaceful and for the better of American people.
    Gassho
    Sat
    Sorry for going over 3 sentences.
    Last edited by Inshin; 09-27-2020 at 11:15 PM.

  36. #86
    Quote Originally Posted by Ania View Post
    So many insightful posts here!
    I understand Onkai's view and don't think she meant hate speach : it's has to do with the system and the institution of police. I was born in communist Poland ( Onkai - your use of the word Comrade makes me boil inside joking) and remember the mistrust and rage towards the police brutality who tortured many people (killing freedom fighting priest J. Popiełuszko), my father had to hide many times from them. Now Poland has democracy and the police has changed too. I witnessed corruption in Indian police, and never really respected this institution until I moved to UK. Some of you may have different stories but I saw the human in police for the first time in UK and I genuinely belive that here they work to protect the people and to be of benefit to people. I can't imagine any other place where police would call a drunk troublemaker "Sir", spoke to him politely and offered him a lift home. When it comes to US - there are good police officers but the system has to change, because as it is now it doesn't benefit the officers (PTSD, etc) neither the society. And hopefully it will - every crisis is a catalyst for change. Let's pray it will be more peaceful and for the better of American people.
    Gassho
    Sat
    Hi Ania, just wondering if you have confused Onkai with Onka. You would not be the first, though

    Gassho
    Jakuden
    SatToday


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  37. #87
    Quote Originally Posted by Jakuden View Post
    Hi Ania, just wondering if you have confused Onkai with Onka. You would not be the first, though

    Gassho
    Jakuden
    SatToday


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    My applogies to both


  38. #88
    Hi all

    Wow, took some time to read all the posts, metta to all who have suffered because of these events. It's certainly a difficult topic, and probably emblematic of many of the current and likely future struggles for our societies. We are beings of emotion and action and social media seems to work on the most polarising parts of our brain!

    When I took the vow, to save all sentient beings, there was no caveat, no 'but only if that sentient being is nice to me'. Of course, if someone breaks into my house and kills one of my kids, I might want to kill that person - at least I acknowledge I would feel that way. But maybe I would want to seek the path of healing instead. Maybe both views would play tug-of-war with me, but one thing I do know - when I sit, I sit as a Buddha, I sit as the whole universe, I sit [U]as that person[U], that cop who has killed unnecessarily, or the person who kills in retribution.

    Things need to change, of course they do, but when we drop our vows we forget the reason we came to Dogen's zen.

    Just my opinion but I have nothing but metta and empathy for all sides in this.

    Gassho, satlah, Tokan

  39. #89
    Quote Originally Posted by leon View Post
    When I took the vow, to save all sentient beings, there was no caveat, no 'but only if that sentient being is nice to me'. But maybe I would want to seek the path of healing instead.
    Not for the topic of this thread, but Tokan your words here hit me right where I am at and speak exactly to what is keeping me going each day, in a particular longterm situation I'm dealing with.

    Thank you for this reminder and this confirmation. [Gassho2]

    Gassho, meian st lh


    Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
    My life is my temple and my practice.

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