avad | Eyes of Compassion

"Peace and compassion go hand in hand with understanding and non-discrimination. We choose one thing over another when we discriminate. With the eyes of compassion we can look at all of living reality at once. A compassionate person sees himself or herself in every being. With the ability to view reality from many viewpoints, we can overcome all viewpoints and act compassionately in each situation. This is the highest meaning of the word "reconciliation"...
The practice of meditation on interdependent co-arising is one way to arrive at this realization. When it is attained, discrimination vanishes and reality is no longer sliced by the sword of conceptualization. We have to continue practicing until we can see a child's body of skin and bones in Uganda or Ethiopia as our own. Then we will have realized non-discrimination, real love. According to the Lotus Sutra, looking at all living beings with the eyes of compassion is a capacity of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. When we meditate on the First Noble Truth, the truth of suffering, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is present in us."
-from The Sun My Heart
Thich Nhat Hanh

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Oh yes. Defintely, of course!
Don't hit me but could you, would you, use spaced paragraph breaks? Here it would have come after reconciliation.

On these lines I fell out with a 'friend' who insisted that troops did not join the army to fight.

It arose out of the illogical argument 'I'm opposed to war but support troops' sentimental ill thought out hogwash!

Love and kisses.

K

But the meaning of this is we must also see the 'troops' as ourselves and have compassion, is it not? We must go far enough in our meditation to see the varying circumstances, fears, desires, aspirations etc., that lead a human to join the military. I, too believe it is not with the idea of killing that most join. I think there is an attractive idea of putting oneself through a very structured training in which the expectation is to emerge as a stronger, braver, more disciplined person...there are many alternative scenarios to this that we can relate to- whether it be the thought of a long retreat into a Buddhist monastery, or an extreme exercise program perhaps with an agressive personal trainer, or complete devotion to a guru, or the martial arts. The military is the main-stream , socially accepted and marketed answer to many young people's questions about what to do next in their lives. And Don't underestimate the power of the financial rewards...to have college paid for, etc. Of those I know personally it was a naive decision based much more on life factors and a general sense of 'doing the right thing' than any philosophy on violence. And now those these soldiers will never again be innocent. They will see and be a part of things that will change them forever. I rail at a system that sells these people the illusion...that rewards people more for joining the military than for becoming a public school teacher...that calls this machine 'The Service'.

No that is self delusion. We must have compassion because we all suffer. We all see the world in ignorance but each of us see's some logic, some reality.'cause and effect' remember. The willingness for some of us to join a community whose raison de'tre is to kill is illogical, delusionay, dhukha. We do not meet unreason with unreason.

We see that all living things suffer and have compassion for our relationship to those who have joined the millitary. But we do not compromise reality with unreason

That would lead,'rationally' to joining in their delusionary state.

We say 'this is violence' instead of allowing our mind to be ruled by a false sentimentality. As soon as we say 'this is violence, this is death, this is murder' the fog of rationalisation clears. Our whole being shudders with aversion.

Your argument would allow that children will put their into the flame while we had 'compassion'. In the case of war and volence we still the mind and meet active aggression with active compassion. Violence with non-violence, even to the point of death.

Do you see?

Much Love
K

For me to better respond,Please explain what you mean by a 'false sentimentality' and also by the sentence that begins "Your argument..."?

No I'm too tired of all thiss. I think my points are clear enough .

OK sorry I was terse. I am fed up with all of this. By false sentimentality I mean a dishonest emotionalism. eg: The way troops are 'killing machines' before they go into a battle zone (and kill) and become 'our boys' when they are fighting.

By 'you argument' I mean your argument. You convey the idea that troops are 'victims' of the government, the system etc. No. We each have a mind and we cannot keep blaming others for the way we use it ot others use theirs. It is a contadiction to hate violence and be opposed to war and then shirk the fact that troops kill. They are trained to kill. They joined the military. They are not conscripts. To kill is unjustifiable under any circumstance. That is the heart and soul of Non-Violence.

I'm ending this and all similar discussions.

You don't need to answer, but I have to say you misread 'MY argument'. There is no 'shirking' of the fact that troops kill. And there is no switch-up of my attitude towards troops before or after entering a war. Being compassionate towards a human does in no way imply CONDONING every behavior and action they take. That said, I find it unrealistic to assume that each person has had the same developmental and situational framework to promote a deep understanding of non-violence. For example, I do not judge a 19 year old who joined the military in order to have education paid for, with little other alternative visibly available, and who was encouraged by the adults they respected, the same way I would judge myself now at 31 with my life experiences, opportunities,upbringing and the paths I've followed,for choosing the military. And more importantly, in war ALL are suffering, and I feel it is important not to villify anyone or abstract humans into abstract categories of 'killing machines'or 'collateral damage'. Yes, I feel a system is also to blame, but in that a system is made up of its parts, US. TO ignore the part we all have in constructing and maintaining a system is to allow the seemingly endless cycles of violence to continue for generations to come.

think there is an attractive idea of putting oneself through a very structured training in which the expectation is to emerge as a stronger, braver, more disciplined person...

at the end of highschool i joined the canadian armed forces reserve... from what i understand, the canadian reserve involves a greater level of commitment than in the US (weekly stuff, frequent weekend exercises)... it was all about personal challenge. and after three years i was no longer challenged by The Service. at the rank of corporal, one makes the decision to be a CFL (corporal-for-life) or to pursue leadership courses. i was no longer interested in Them, and they were no longer interested in Me.

the point of this long-winded reply is that it wasn't for the killing. it was for the personal challenge, and when that dried up i moved on.

and yikes, I did it Again without spaces.! Me so sorry. I'll try to remember next time.:)

(sigh) It's alright, you're an artist, a genius, you have waist length hair... but if you could try. But beauty and brains...I can't be too angry. I can't read you either but I can't be angry because you are an ar...oh Ive said all that.

Eyes of Compassion

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