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mickiI had to check the date when I was reading this chapter and he was talking about President Bush starting war with Iraq, but it was 1992 so he meant the Gulf War. Considering the chapter was about transforming our consciousness so we prevent future wars, that makes me very sad. We don't even consider the Gulf War a significant war in the scheme of things, after 9/11 and the responses to it. :-(
He starts the chapter by suggesting that when bodhisattvas get angry with each other, it sets up countless obstacles everywhere in the universe, just as when bodhisattvas practice peace it sends healing through the whole universe. That, of course, is why the process for addressing anger in the previous chapter is so important in Plum Village, because all of us, he says, are bodhisattvas--"Anyone who is aware of what is happening and tries to wake up other people is a bodhisattva. We are all bodhisattvas, doing our best." Later he suggests that even President Bush ordering the Gulf War "is a bodhisattva trying in his way to serve his people. Early in the conflict he instituted an embargo, but because we did not encourage him enough, he became impatient and suddenly war was inevitable. When he ordered the ground attack and said "God bless the United States of America," I knew that bodhisattva needed our help. Any leader needs our help and understanding. We must use intelligent and loving language so he will listen to us. When we get angry we cannot do that."
I can't decide if that is misguided or just a level of spiritual attainment that is currently beyond me. I can accept that Bush (who, like Christians using Babylon for all subsequent enemies I will use as a stand-in for he that shall not be named--though maybe I should just use Voldemort!) possesses buddha nature because all beings do; I can even accept the fact that he is trying, according to his lights, to make the world a better place-- but for me a bodhisattva has a self-sacrificial quality that I think most political leaders lack. Bodhisattvas choose the world of suffering again and again to overcome the sufferings of others. That is rare in the field of politics.
Still, I suppose the sentiment of not being driven by anger is an important one connected to the rest of the theme in the chapter, which is that every time we as a society choose violence as a strategy we are just sowing the seeds of future violence and hatred. "Without anger, we have to find a way to tell the president that God cannot bless one country against another. He must learn to pray better than that. But we should not think that simply by electing another president the situation will be transformed. If we want a better government, we have to begin by changing our own consciousness and our own way of life. Our society is ruled by greed and violence. The way to help our country and our president is by transforming the greed and violence in ourselves and working to transform society."
It talks about the soldiers in the Gulf War, on both sides, spending months preparing for violence--learning to attack dummies with bayonets to practice transforming enemies into non-humans so they could kill them--"planting seeds of suffering, fear and violence within their consciousness." Then came the actual violence of war. All of this will impact generations with "the seeds of violence and suffering." Among other things, it trains people to think that war is a solution to problems in the world. He talks later in the chapter about how survivors of war need to speak out on its horrors to help change people's consciousness.
He also points out that war is in all of us. He speaks of the Rodney King beating, how those of us watching identified with King's suffering--but at the same time, we are all the policemen too. "They are manifesting the hatred and violence of our society," which is the root problem we need to address through training our minds to stop water the seeds of violence in ourselves and instead water the seeds of love and compassion.
He starts the chapter by suggesting that when bodhisattvas get angry with each other, it sets up countless obstacles everywhere in the universe, just as when bodhisattvas practice peace it sends healing through the whole universe. That, of course, is why the process for addressing anger in the previous chapter is so important in Plum Village, because all of us, he says, are bodhisattvas--"Anyone who is aware of what is happening and tries to wake up other people is a bodhisattva. We are all bodhisattvas, doing our best." Later he suggests that even President Bush ordering the Gulf War "is a bodhisattva trying in his way to serve his people. Early in the conflict he instituted an embargo, but because we did not encourage him enough, he became impatient and suddenly war was inevitable. When he ordered the ground attack and said "God bless the United States of America," I knew that bodhisattva needed our help. Any leader needs our help and understanding. We must use intelligent and loving language so he will listen to us. When we get angry we cannot do that."
I can't decide if that is misguided or just a level of spiritual attainment that is currently beyond me. I can accept that Bush (who, like Christians using Babylon for all subsequent enemies I will use as a stand-in for he that shall not be named--though maybe I should just use Voldemort!) possesses buddha nature because all beings do; I can even accept the fact that he is trying, according to his lights, to make the world a better place-- but for me a bodhisattva has a self-sacrificial quality that I think most political leaders lack. Bodhisattvas choose the world of suffering again and again to overcome the sufferings of others. That is rare in the field of politics.
Still, I suppose the sentiment of not being driven by anger is an important one connected to the rest of the theme in the chapter, which is that every time we as a society choose violence as a strategy we are just sowing the seeds of future violence and hatred. "Without anger, we have to find a way to tell the president that God cannot bless one country against another. He must learn to pray better than that. But we should not think that simply by electing another president the situation will be transformed. If we want a better government, we have to begin by changing our own consciousness and our own way of life. Our society is ruled by greed and violence. The way to help our country and our president is by transforming the greed and violence in ourselves and working to transform society."
It talks about the soldiers in the Gulf War, on both sides, spending months preparing for violence--learning to attack dummies with bayonets to practice transforming enemies into non-humans so they could kill them--"planting seeds of suffering, fear and violence within their consciousness." Then came the actual violence of war. All of this will impact generations with "the seeds of violence and suffering." Among other things, it trains people to think that war is a solution to problems in the world. He talks later in the chapter about how survivors of war need to speak out on its horrors to help change people's consciousness.
He also points out that war is in all of us. He speaks of the Rodney King beating, how those of us watching identified with King's suffering--but at the same time, we are all the policemen too. "They are manifesting the hatred and violence of our society," which is the root problem we need to address through training our minds to stop water the seeds of violence in ourselves and instead water the seeds of love and compassion.
