With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
Do those killed in battle need company? Is it our way to honor soldiers killed in combat to send more in after them? How should we best make homage to those who defend us? Do we need defending? When? At what point?
As you go through your day today, off from work, perhaps, please pay attention to these questions. They are central to this day in the United States.
Cooking on a grill does nothing for this; drinking beer does nothing for this; waving a flag and watching a parade does nothing for this.
We Americans are not very good at reflection, nor are we particularly good thinkers. We are far too emotional for that. We live with the hash marks of real or imagined injury on our sleeves and use them to justify our knee-jerk responses to complex problems. Sad.
We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance. What we should be focusing on is the complete and total waste of lives war offers us. Rather than rallying around the troops, giving the government carte blanche to spend our future to support corporations making huge profits on the lives of others, I would suggest we consider alternatives.
Today I plan to sit Zazen at the veteran's park on Roadrunner. I will be there at 10:00AM. Please join me if you can.
Be well.
4 comments:
While your mother Buddha stays at hospital, you demonstrate greater loving kindness and compassion to those heroes who left us behind.
I will join you to practice harder with my meditation, and dedicate all the virtue and merit (if any)to all of them incuding your own senior Buddha at home.
I owe you my respect.
May you be well and peace.
Deep Bows,
Epath
It is true what you say, Harvey. In war there are those who smile and profit, those who protect and care for (including active soldiers), and those who suffer much. It is complicated. War is bad, but is it not good when someone is saved/protected by our soldiers overseas? There are many who are grateful for them, but also many who are angered by them. Is there an answer while there is even one violent person left on the earth? I do not know. I only exist. Please, tell me, what is a Zazen? Is there a good book that can introduce me to your way of life? I do not guarantee to accept it, but I need to remove a little of my ignorance. Even if I find I cannot accept it, at least I can guarantee your right to live it and to express it as much as I am able.
Hello John! Thank you for leaving a message, especially one so thoughtful. Zazen simply defined is seated meditation. But it is more than that. Much more. In this posture, we essentially become a gate to our own experience of the universe as it is. Stillness in motion.
There are many good books: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, An Open Heart by the Dalai Lama, The Heart of Being by John Daido Loori.
If anyone saves another from suffering it is good, John, soldier or no. The problem with weapons is that we tend to use them a bit to easily and quickly. We all suffer in the aftermath.
My presence at the Memorial Day event was welcomed. Here is a link to the newspaper story:
http://www.lcsun-news.com/news/ci_3878972
Thanks Harvey, I will check out some of those books. Sorry, but the article you refer to seems to have disappeared.
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