An Eye For An Eye (Will make the whole world blind)

Shoshin

I'm shaking my head in disbelief ....God Save America (From the godfearing warmongering Evangelists... so it would seem )

"The president of Liberty University, a leading evangelical Christian college in Virginia, urged students to apply for concealed-weapons permits and said that if more people did so, then “we could end those Muslims."

"On Saturday, Mr. Falwell tweeted that he had been referring only to “those Muslims” who commit acts of terrorism. In an interview with The News & Advance, a newspaper in Lynchburg, Va., he said, “There are many good Muslims, many good moderate Muslims,” who would be welcome on the campus of Liberty University."

Yeah Right....sure thing ...and Jesus loves you too Mr Falwell ! ~sarcastic ~

Liberty University is situated in Lynchburg Virginia " that's Lynchburg " even the town/city's name's got a somewhat sinister ring to it (No offence to the people of Lynchburg, I'm sure most are nice people, but given the history.... well just saying "Lynch"burg ) ....

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/us/president-of-liberty-university-urges-students-to-get-gun-permits.html?_r=0

Does Mr Falwell have a point?
Or is his somewhat trigger-happy 'unchristian' approach. just trying to stir things up, and spread even more hatred ?

Walker

Fundies armed with handguns. Yeah, there's a good idea.

federica

I actually heard a Muslim say that the way we help those crazy fundamentalists 'win' is if we keep giving them air-time and constantly talking about them.

Ask yourselves what this is doing to your mentality. Constantly bringing up the topic of Muslims and hatred, and those equally crazy extreme people who keep spouting off about Muslims and hatred.
Rather than focus, as a social group, on how much dysfunction there is, why don't we focus, as a social group, on shutting up and emanating love, kindness and compassion, instead?

AjeevakDharmana

I am actually doubtful whether having a gun would make any difference against trained jihadi under ambush attack conditions ....

karasti

There was a guy on FB with a lot of followers who basically suggested we shoot any Muslims suspected of terrorism. of course, Trump is in the breaking news right now for suggesting the US stop allowing Muslims into the US at all, even just for travel. He's such a high class guy.

I have a very hard time attempting to have compassionate thoughts for that man, and mostly just wish he'd be hit by a bus. I should probably take my cushion and go sit in the corner now.

On the plus side, the city I used to live in (where we have many friends and my son goes to college) a group has formed both Muslims and others to stand up against the view that Muslim=terrorist. It's quite a nice group and I hope that it helps facilitate conversation in a positive way.

All of my great grandparents immigrated to the US from Finland, and at this point, I kind of wish they had stayed put. Life in the US feels very dark to me right now. Yesterday I was at a community Christmas program, and wondered if we were truly safe, packed into the auditorium like sardines. I live in a very small town. We all know each other. But that no longer seems good enough. Life no longer fees safe. And it's not even because of the shootings and terrorism. It's because of the utter hatred so many people are spewing at their fellow citizens and humans. It is unbearable sometimes. It is shocking. We have been divided before, forever, really. But it's never been like this before (in my lifetime and in my experience).

But I also blame the media for latching onto all the worst stories because they generate the most comments on their page, encouraging division and dischord. It's disheartening to say the least and emotionally exhausting. And I don't go looking for it, believe me. It's just everywhere. Comments made on relatives pages, discussions at family gatherings. It's inescapable.

Thank goodness for my meditation and Buddhist practice. It helps. I fear a lot of people are already blind, and stabbing themselves in the eye, even. Freedom lies within, and living in fear and anger like so many are, we have already lost it. And no one else took it, we do it to ourselves.

Walker

@federica said:

Rather than focus, as a social group, on how much dysfunction there is, why don't we focus, as a social group, on shutting up and emanating love, kindness and compassion, instead?

I can appreciate that. It would be nice to see more stories like this one.

Jeffrey

http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=11be6cd6a9d79d32b05c3934f&id=661f97885f

Lama Shenpen Hookham
Summary: A student asks Lama Shenpen about a Dharmic way to approach current global problems regarding social justice and environment. Due to its length this conversation has been divided into two parts.

A student writes:

"Most of my life I have had an optimistic attitude to the state of our country and the world. Having faith that man's ingenuity and our fundamental good nature would solve the problems we have.”

Lama Shenpen:

Well our track record so far hasn't been much to base our optimism on has it? In so many cases we distort our good nature and use our ingenuity for dubious ends. Nonetheless I believe we have the ingenuity and fundamental good nature that could solve many problems we have, but not all

From the Buddhist point of view our situation is a mixture of
results of past karma and our present input. There is always the opportunity for us to contribute positive input from the karmic point of view - this is the optimism of the Buddhist practitioner - the future is always in our hands.

This is true in two senses. First we can make sure that we always put our best into the situation whatever it is and second what we do with a pure motivation will in the long run have a positive karmic effect.

The immediate outcome of our actions in terms of achieving
our immediate ends depend on so many conditions there is no point in being attached to them. A lifetime of success can be blown up in an instant.

Student:

"However, really just this last year, my attitude has changed to pessimism.

This is fueled by our ineffectiveness in combating climate change, widespread intractable war, seemingly insoluble migration problems and an insularity that is developing, such as opposition to the UK being in the EU and Scotland wanting to break up the UK.

Is becoming despairing about the state of our world in effect a negative pranidhana (a "wishing prayer" or "wishing spell" - ed.) that makes matters worse?”

Lama Shenpen:

Despair is just a strategy for trying to express our frustration.
It is something we choose to do.

I suppose in that sense it is a negative pranidhana. It is not that we wish for it all to be hopeless - but there is
a part of us that somehow wants to identify with that hopelessness and make it what we are, as a way of somehow existing I suppose. 'I exist and so everything is hopeless'.

Actually even in the most hopeless looking situations we still have our good nature and ingenuity and can find endless ways to express them in order to progress towards awakening and to help others do the same.

The despair attitude is just clinging to a hope and making hopelessness a kind of view of the world because that particular hope has not been realised. It is clinging to ideas and views, making them 'mine'.

We can live without attachment to outcomes. Yes it all looks pretty bleak and there is no reason to think it will or it won't get better at some point. It all depends on our karma. This is samsara and samsara as such cannot be fixed.

Even with the best will in the world life either tragically ends when we are young or we just slowly become increasingly
decrepit and die. So its all going to end in tears
one way or another. It is samsara. It is clinging to what is not real as if it were real.

Humane values are about karma and about deeper truths than ecology or about solving the world’s problems for once and for all. Humane values are for doing our best from the spiritual point of view to act with kindness and unselfishness for the benefit of everyone. That will always produce a
positive effect and make life worth living.

If on top of that some real progress is made towards Awakening - well then that is what is really
worth doing! Helping to preserve the Dharma in the world
for future generations is also worth doing even if it does not go as far as we would like.

There are values to live by that are not dependent on the
conditions of the world - and yet values like justice, fairness, equal opportunity and so on are about kindness and unselfishness and are worth fighting for just because of that - whatever the outcome.

Student:

"When we take what action we can, to counter what we perceive to be negative, is this in effect a positive pranidhana?"

Lama Shenpen:

An action is karma. So taking positive karmic action is definitely contributing to the welfare of the world and ourselves. Dedicating the punya ("merit" - ed.) of the action to the welfare of the world and to bringing all beings
to Awakening is a pranidhana - you are making a definite wish for your actions to have a particular effect and when linked to the Bodhichitta ("enlightened mind" - ed.) and pranidhanas of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas ("enlightening beings" - ed.) it has tremendous power. Even a small action can have tremendous power if done
with a powerful pranidhana.

Student:

"Does that make some contribution to solving the problems?"

Lama Shenpen:

Does what I say here answer your question?

I believe our actions and pranidhanas are having an effect on the world and its problems on all sorts of levels.

It is good that people are trying their best to solve
the problems because their good intentions and actions will have an effect.

We all play our part as best we can - but whether we get
particular results or not depends on so many factors. For example, the problem of global warming is not helped by humans creating noxious emissions but then volcanoes do that too. There are various global catastrophes poised to happen at any moment, however well we humans manage our own contribution to the problem of global warning. That is just how life in samsara is.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Lama Shenpen Hookham.

pegembara

The extremists have so much anger and hatred that wherever they go, they create enemies. We can choose not to go down that path.

A traveler came upon an old farmer hoeing in his field beside the road. Eager to rest his feet, the wanderer hailed the countryman, who seemed happy enough to straighten his back and talk for a moment.
"What sort of people live in the next town?" asked the stranger.

"What were the people like where you've come from?" replied the farmer, answering the question with another question.

"They were a bad lot. Troublemakers all, and lazy too. The most selfish people in the world, and not a one of them to be trusted. I'm happy to be leaving the scoundrels."

"Is that so?" replied the old farmer. "Well, I'm afraid that you'll find the same sort in the next town.

Disappointed, the traveler trudged on his way, and the farmer returned to his work.

Some time later another stranger, coming from the same direction, hailed the farmer, and they stopped to talk. "What sort of people live in the next town?" he asked.

"What were the people like where you've come from?" replied the farmer once again.

"They were the best people in the world. Hard working, honest, and friendly. I'm sorry to be leaving them."

"Fear not," said the farmer. "You'll find the same sort in the next town."

Cinorjer

When you look at something through a magnifying glass, it appears bigger.

When society goes into panic mode, we can as Buddhists first refuse to join the screaming mob. Then we can tap the neighbor on the shoulder and point out there's no reason to panic.

But you cannot get in front of the mob and force them to listen to you.

Kundo

Just a gentle reminder to Mr Trump.

Happy Hanukkah

Lionduck

Well,@dhammachick, it is a good reminder to not 'look the other way'.
The holocaust was all too real and all too tragic.
And don't forget in the US, the American Japanese sent to 'relocation centers' during WW2. This was the result of rampant racism and bigotry.
Also, the 'Commie' scare of the 1950's.
All this non-love seems to come from the same general area. Today, in the US for example, it is Donald Trump's base. This type of bigotry and deliberate ignorance, fed today by the likes of Fox 'News' and Rush Limbaugh et al, keeps rising it's ugly head.
We must wage relentless battle with such darkness and not allow it to prevail.
We must not 'look the other way'.

Peace to all

federica

Apparently Jimmy Carter enforced a similar regulation during his stint as President. If ever there was a Bible-Bashing president, it was him...

Edith Cavell, on the other hand, could teach us a thing or two.

Standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough.
I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.

Edith Louisa Cavell, October 11th 1915

Kundo

@Lionduck said:

We must wage relentless battle with such darkness and not allow it to prevail.
We must not 'look the other way'.

Peace to all

That was entirely my point.

StingRay

Believe it or not there have been only 45 terrorist related deaths in the US in the last 15 years - post 9/11 yet there is a complete disproportionate level of news coverage on terrorist. We have given them a free billion dollar advertising and recruiting campaign. If you take one city in the US eg Chicago- in Chicago 450 people were murdered last year. This is only one year. Not being from the US my understanding is that there are many cities so my guess the number of murders per year in the entire country must be in the high thousands. This being the case why are we so obsessed with Islamic extremists when we should be reflecting and focused on the reasons we are shooting and killing each other! It could be that the human race is not responsible enough to handle a gun. When a human gets angry we are temporarily insane. If we have access to something as dangerous as a weapon made for killing God help us!

lobster

@StingRay said:
When a human gets angry we are temporarily insane.

The problem is that temporary anger can be semi permenant. As an angry person I have to constantly evaluate my prejudices for and against. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be in that situation.

For example I feel that Christians make excellent pagan roman style big cat food, especially higher clergy. However I feel that cruelty to lions digestion is also worthy of compassionate consideration.

Bodhi Baby Jesus, suggested goodwill to all. Bravo.

The question for me is acknowledging our tit for tat mentality BUT indulging in a higher calling if possible.

Metta and the Bodhisattva ideals are a constant reminder to transform our base nature to Buddha Gold.

It is a tough plan but it is a plan.

StingRay

Thanks lobster my overall point was the disproportionate amount of attention we give terrorism when the majority of murders are non terrorist related while only a very small percentage is terrorist related. In relation to anger the base emotion of this is fear. I have become aware of both arising in large quantities since I have come back to practice! I am a Family of 5 crazy people all under the same roof