This past week in the news has shown even more starkly how the world is also a sangha. With the rise of technology and social media especially TikTok (who knew? Without a grandchild this would be a lost world to me) (TikTok has become the vehicle by which the Ukrainian people are letting the world know what is going on where they are), we are now where we have never been here before, as Thomas Friedman wrote yesterday, in a world in which so much is known so quickly by so many people about a war in a distant land. The global response has been nothing short of amazing, simply because this war is not happening in the darkness of previous wars but reaching the wider world in real time through images and videos on Youtube, and Facebook and TikTok.
What are some of the lessons for us as meditators as well as human beings so far? We are filled with compassion and fear for the Ukrainian people. Can we also feel compassion for the Russian soldiers who may or may not want to be invading a foreign land? Can we also understand that they feel fear and loneliness and most would much rather be home? We may also be filled with anger and revulsion at their crazed leader. Can we also see the suffering in reaching such a state of isolation and rage and perhaps even helplessness that tearing down the whole establishment is preferable to feeling the shame and humiliation and rejection that is also present? Have we not felt some of those feelings ourselves? And yet, this doesn’t mean we condone or excuse or allow such destructive acts. What it does point to is how we relate to our resolve that this aggression is intolerable.
As we sit and breathe, feeling our bodies and breath in our bodies, a kind of joy arises naturally. The joy of being present in this moment, now. And this joy too exists and can be known. It can be quite subtle, this joy. Don’t go looking for the white elephant in the forest when it may be sleeping quietly on your own hearth. I believe I have mixed a metaphor here but you get the idea. Joy is already present.
Why is this important? Because we can lift up that joy and gather strength and resilience from it. We can allow it to melt our anger and fear and redirect that energy into compassion and resolve.
And then we can extend that compassion to all those around us as well as those far away who are suffering - to both sides of a conflict, to those we fear as well as our friends and allies, to every one in our global sangha. And this joy and this compassion keep us safe from the destructive forces of hatred. They also allow us to do what we can to contribute to a positive solution - out of love, not hatred.
This is a well-known quote from the Dhammapada, a sacred Buddhist scripture:
Hatred never ceases by hatred;
But by love alone is healed.
This is an ancient and eternal law.
This is an ancient and eternal law. Think about it - an ancient and eternal law. This is simply the way it is.
Can we begin to touch this truth and allow it to grow in our hearts?