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Violent Society
As you know I live in Southamerica. The city where I live in it's really violent, and I think it's a sick society. Crime is everywhere, lots of innocent people get killed everyday because they are victims of assaults. I suffered an assault and everyone of my friends or family, it's just an everyday thing.
If you spend just one day here you'll see at least one fight or people arguing in the streets.
Almost 40% of the population lives in poverty.
It's a real challenge trying to follow a buddhist life, trying to have a quiet mind in a society as vulnerable as this one.
Sometimes I lose faith in things, it's easy here to lose temper or to feel that one cannot make any difference, not even in one's life.
Just wanted to share my experience and also if you have any advices i'd appreciate them very much:p
If you spend just one day here you'll see at least one fight or people arguing in the streets.
Almost 40% of the population lives in poverty.
It's a real challenge trying to follow a buddhist life, trying to have a quiet mind in a society as vulnerable as this one.
Sometimes I lose faith in things, it's easy here to lose temper or to feel that one cannot make any difference, not even in one's life.
Just wanted to share my experience and also if you have any advices i'd appreciate them very much:p
0
Comments
http://www.buddhanet.net/cmdsg/kamma4.htm#ditthi
In a sick society most of the "blame" comes from the rulers/ruling class and unless there is a change, following the Buddhist path becomes difficult. In extreme poverty the priority is to be rid of hunger and survive {hell or hungry ghost realms}. The Dhamma unfortunately cannot thrive in such circumstances. The way out is to remove oneself from this "hellish" environment if possible.
I was raised in poverty in an extremely violent sub-culture of American society. Even though I was introduced and began Buddhist training at a young age, I had to survive. The Buddhist training I received was simply zazen or concentration training which helped me to sense threats and develop a kind of intensity of mind that tended to intimidate most predators along with martial arts training that I used, too often, to protect myself and those I cared for.
Even though I lived in a virtual hell-realm, there were times and places of relative peace and I sought those out and did my best to associate with those who followed a kind of code of honor.
It's really kind of funny, or not, what I remember about my young years most is not all the violence but the contact I had with, what I now realize were, true Bodhisattvas who came and lived in that hell-realm and offered refuge and training to any who wished for and could persevere in training to get out of that hell. Unfortunately for me it took receiving a thirty year prison sentence to convince me to apply myself wholeheartedly to the training I received.
Juan, I committed myself to truly and faithfully upholding the vows and commitments of training with the BuddhaDharma inside one of America's most violent places - a maximum security penitentiary, in the face of extreme violence. It wasn't easy. It took many years of rigorous practice, that on occasion included violence to assure predators that the non-violent path I aspired to was not based on weakness. If you can imagine a guy in the middle of violent prison gangs doing slow walking meditation and sitting in meditation on a prison bench or sitting in a cell chanting or reciting sutras. I was called names, spit on, and threatened in many ways but I just kept on practicing. Eventually, I got a prison name. I was the Buddhist guy or the Monk. The Latino Gangas called me viejo loco monje buddhista or something like that. Sometimes they would gather around and jeer and make fun of what I was doing but most of the time they would honor the discipline and commitment.
I'm sharing this because I imagine that if you choose to change the conditions of your life you can by simply walking the path with courage and strength. For me it was, and still is, worth giving up this life for. I often tell people who ask why I'm doing this that "I can't imagine a better thing to do with this life" and I mean it.
I came to that conclusion in prison and it became really obvious to others there that I would not be intimidated, coerced, or influenced in any way to give-up the path; and this included being threatened and abused by prison staff. What happened was that everybody came to see clearly that I was "dead serious" and willing to give them this life to uphold my vows. Guess what? when that happened people began giving me much more than respect. They began supporting me in my efforts, including the gangs. They began acting as if I was a special person in their lives and a few of the leaders of some of the most powerful gangs actually came to share the training because they wanted the benefits the imagined I was getting.
My point is that it may be really hard and scary at first to take to the path and walk with resolve but in the end others will see your sincerity and sense that you have something of value that they want even more than money, etc. and that's true freedom.
Mi Hermano, it's up to you. What do you want? You can do this!
Paz
Such is the beauty of internet posting.
you never know who you're talking to.
But you start from a position of respect and courtesy, and what people post either jars that position and you evaluate the person differently, or it increments the respect and you appreciate their presence and input.
Juan, could you put up a small Peace sign outside your door, or a slogan, "Be the Peace you wish to see in this world" (Gandhi said that) simply to begin imprinting into people's minds that your existence is one based on a peaceful co-existence with your fellows?
I don't mean that you should draw attention to yourself, but if you quietly begin spreading a peaceful energy towards others, it can snowball...
You could have some leaflets printed urging the community to abhor violence and to try to live peaceably with one another.
Read this article, and see what I mean.
I'm just throwing suggestions in, here, and anything you deem impossible or unworkable - will be.
Remember the words of Henry Ford II - "Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't - you're right."
if two women in the midst of violent savage warlike conflict can move mountains, who knows what you might accomplish?
I didn't know you lived in S.A. but I have seen firsthand the violence and poverty of which you speak. I spent two years as a missionary in Veracruz Mexico. It seemed hopeless for so many and it was very difficult for me to be positive and a source of strength to them, as it was my role as a church leader.
Be strong, be brave, be just, and have faith in the truth. The difficulties you experience will change so use them to grow.
Que la misericordia del Buddha Chenrezig este contigo.
Brother Bob, your story was really inspiring. I imagine it takes a lot of courage and specially love to follow the path in that conditions with all those obstacles. But in the end, i think, obstacles are to pass them through... you're right
Thank you all!
PAZ
This excerpt can be found in whole at http://www.snickerfit.com for anyone who wants to read it.
I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone who reads it, as I believe it hits the nail pretty squarely on the head (at least, back when I read it, which was before I became a Buddhist...).
I think I disagree with you on this quote. I certainly don't know what the answer is, but my experience living and working for a year and a half in a ghetto on the East Coast of the US seems to contradict what that excerpt is saying. I must say that I feel the causes for violence, especially in poverty-stricken areas, are far more complex than simply spanking or not spanking.
Granted, the poverty levels where I lived and worked were nowhere near the levels of Juan's hometown (it was about 25%), and I'm guessing the violence levels were less as well. However, working at the neighborhood bar, I personally got to know all too many people who had lost loved ones to the gang and drug related violence. I also got to know plenty of the gang members and drug dealers (who just loved showing me their photos with various 9mm's and automatic weapons and "spitting rhymes" about extreme violence).
Because it was the neighborhood bar, I also watched many of these gang members and drug dealers interact with (or avoid) their own parents. The main premise of the excerpt you shared seems to be that young people who act violently and criminally, do so because they don't get spanked at all. However, all the parents there admitted to and lauded spanking children whenever they got out of line. Some of the gang members would even talk about getting "whooped" by their mother whenever they did something wrong. Yet, these young men STILL became criminals, and often times, violently so.
The city also had a very serious revenge-attack and killing problem, whether it be for rapes, attempted murders or suspected "snitching." My impression was that this belief in violent retaliation came from a distorted view of the spankings they received for childhood misbehavior. Basically, if someone does wrong, they need to be violently punished. I certainly don't know if this is part of what was happening, but it was my impression.
Yeah, I actually did read the whole thing. I know it talked about other things, but the other things, to me at least, it seemed to only mention briefly, and the teacher just kept going back to how punishing puppies or children prevents misconduct and instills morality. I may have been reading it wrong, but that's what I got out of it.
What do you read in it? How do you see it as the Buddhist approach? I'm not trying to be domineering or offensive, but I really would like to know since I seem to read something different from the text.
The various compassion meditations used in Tibetan Buddhism don't remove the pain but do turn the bitterness to bitter-sweetness and allow you to continue to open yourself up.