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Time for Goodness
Yes, it’s true that America has taken a dramatic turn away from my
values as a Buddhist and mindfulness meditator. It is true that fear,
grievance, and what Buddhism calls the three poisons — aggression,
greed, and ignorance — are on the ascent. It is true that Americans have
made an historically bad choice, one I know they will deeply regret in
the end.
But right now, I’m trying not to think too much about that — about bad
people and the bad things they want to do. There’ll be plenty of time to
do that later, and to resist them.
Right now I’m thinking about goodness — about all the good people, with
good values, and the good things they can do together. People like you
and tens of millions of other people of goodwill. Starting now, we can
come together to offer America a different and powerfully positive
alternative.
For me, and perhaps for you, that means focusing on my practice of
Buddhism and mindfulness. They offer us the guidance we need to follow
the path of wisdom, compassion, and peace so we can each contribute to
making a better future a real alternative.
Lion’s Roar is dedicated to offering the kind of wisdom and meditations
we need so badly to come together, to get us through this bad time, and
to inspire the country to move forward again. Here’s some of what the
dharma offers us. This is the goodness we need now.
—Melvin McLeod, Editor-in-Chief, Lion’s Roar
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There
are many wise voices in Buddhism and mindfulness today, and at
LionsRoar.com we’re gathering their reactions, thoughts, and
inspirations about the election, how to deal with it, and where we go
from here. For wise counsel at this difficult time, go to our special
post-election coverage.
Mark Unno, Chan teacher: The day after the election, I
was teaching a course on Zen and Pure Land Buddhism, but instead of
diving into the readings for that week, I asked the students if they
would like to share their thoughts in the wake of what had just
happened. The ten students who had gathered for this intimate seminar
were mature beyond their years and shared their perspectives in an even,
thoughtful manner, even as they were aware of difficult emotions
flowing just beneath the surface of our discussion. My role was the help
provide a safe space, held open, deeply centered. As we continued to go
around, each sharing in turn, one of the youngest student’s eyes became
watery, and her cheeks began to flush. And then, deep sobs began to
emerge. The class fell silent, and as I said that it was all right to
let it out, her anguish came out in waves as she covered her face. The
students were calm, openly accepting of the student and of all their
classmates. There was an experienced student who had studied with me for
two years, and I sensed an impulse rise within her. I said to her,
“Would you like to go over and give her a hug.” “I was just thinking
about it,” she replied.
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In this important essay, my late friend bell hooks offers people of
goodwill a roadmap to a good human society. This is the alternative
vision of the future we need.
Because of the awareness that love and domination cannot coexist, there
is a collective call for everyone to place learning how to love on their
emotional and/or spiritual agenda. We have witnessed the way in which
movements for justice that denounce dominator culture, yet have an
underlying commitment to corrupt uses of power, do not really create
fundamental changes in our societal structure. When radical activists
have not made a core break with dominator thinking (imperialist, white
supremacist, capitalist patriarchy), there is no union of theory and
practice, and real change is not sustained. That’s why cultivating the
mind of love is so crucial. When love is the ground of our being, a love
ethic shapes our participation in politics.
To work for peace and justice we begin with the individual practice of
love, because it is there that we can experience firsthand love’s
transformative power. Attending to the damaging impact of abuse in many
of our childhoods helps us cultivate the mind of love.
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Even when we know where we want to go, we need to know how to get there.
That means practical ways to work with ourselves and others to create
the kind of future we want. In this address to the US Congress, the late
Thich Nhat Hanh offered American leaders— and all of us — effective
ways to build a better country, and better life.
My
right hand has written all the poems that I have composed. My left hand
has not written a single poem. But my right hand does not think, “Left
Hand, you are good for nothing.” My right hand does not have a
superiority complex. That is why it is very happy. My left hand does not
have any complex at all. In my two hands there is the kind of wisdom
called the wisdom of nondiscrimination. One day I was hammering a nail
and my right hand was not very accurate and instead of pounding on the
nail it pounded on my finger. It put the hammer down and took care of
the left hand in a very tender way, as if it were taking care of itself.
It did not say, “Left Hand, you have to remember that I have taken good
care of you and you have to pay me back in the future.” There was no
such thinking. And my left hand did not say, “Right Hand, you have done
me a lot of harm—give me that hammer, I want justice.” My two hands know
that they are members of one body; they are in each other.
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