Annie will lead Monday, Nov 9.
“To 'love our enemy' is impossible, because the moment we love him, he is no longer our enemy.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
Excerpt from a letter Thich Nhat Hanh wrote to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., June 1, 1965:
"I believe with all my heart that the monks who burned themselves did not aim at the death of the oppressors but only at a change in their policy. Their enemies are not man. They are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred, and discrimination which lie within the heart of man. I also believe with all my being that the struggle for equality and freedom you lead in Birmingham, Alabama, is not really aimed at the whites but only at intolerance, hatred, and discrimination. These are real enemies of man-- not man himself. In our unfortunate fatherland we are trying to plead desperately: do not kill man, even in man's name. Please kill the real enemies of man which are present everywhere, in our very hearts and minds."
Dear Friends,
We will come together this week to meditate together and reflect on Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay)'s engaged practice during the war in Vietnam, and how it might support our practice today.
During the war, Thay spoke out for peace many times, fighting injustice while trying not to demonize one side or the other or create division and hatred. It seems like we can learn something from these teachings.
The words above and the poems below have been supporting my own processing of the U.S. election this week and how I might move forward to most completely live into my practice and my Bodhisattva vows.
The main questions that I have been chewing on are these:
How do we care for our feelings of anger/protectiveness, disappointment, and fear while not simultaneously excluding anyone from our hearts?
How do we support the awakening of every single being-- not just those we agree with-- and invite them to join our healing movements and practices?
I don't have any answers, but am "living the questions" as Rainer Maria Rilke suggests we do.
In one of our Plum Village chants based on the metta sutra, it says:
"May all beings live in security and in peace - beings who are frail or strong, tall or short, big or small, invisible or visible, near or far away, already born, or yet to be born. May all of them dwell in perfect tranquility."
How do we include every single person, regardless of their political views or their oppressive beliefs in our hearts and what would that look like in our day-to-day lives?
with love,
annie.
Recommendation
Promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me:
Even as they
strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember, brother,
remember:
man is not our enemy.
The only thing worthy of you is compassion –
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
Hatred will never let you face
the beast in man.
One day, when you face this beast alone,
with your courage intact, your eyes kind,
untroubled
(even as no one sees them),
out of your smile
will bloom a flower.
And those who love you
will behold you
across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.
Alone again,
I will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
On the long, rough road,
the sun and the moon
will continue to shine.
- thich nhat hanh - 1965
For Warmth
By Thich Nhat Hanh
The poem “For Warmth” was written by Thich Nhat Hanh during the Vietnam war.
He said, this was written after he heard about the bombing of Ben Tre and the comment made by an American military man, “We had to destroy the town in order to save it.”
I hold my face in my two hands.
No, I am not crying.
I hold my face in my two hands
to keep the loneliness warm—
two hands protecting,
two hands nourishing,
two hands preventing
my soul from leaving me
in anger.