Everything is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fires of greed, hatred and delusion.
The Buddha ( Fire sutras)
I listened to a video today from Jack Kornfield (see below) about how the dharma...Buddhist teachings ...can be used as a salve or medicine for a very sick and "fevered" world. These teachings echo many other teachings, focusing on the need for loving awareness and compassion to heal what is broken.
He clearly stated that the core wound of our world today is "othering"...making seperate our "little me's", creating borders based on geography, specy, race, sex, colour, economic status, individual body identification, belief, opinion etc etc. It echoes, in a sense what Jesus taught, what Patanjali taught, what ACIM teaches. We need to see beyond this concept we cling to of "individual self in a dangerous world" and the "otherness" of all beings outside ourself.
Hmm! He relayed a couple of stories that I found truly interesting. I would like to relay one here and one in a subsequent entry.
Ashoko putting out the fire
The first was of Emperor Ashoko, a Great Indian ruler of the Maurya dynasty dating back to 268-232 BCE. One day after conquering most of the asian sub continent in a bloody battle, Ashoko stood in his tent overlooking a battle field full of carnage and loss. In amongst the devastation brought about the slaughter he ordered, he observed a Buddhist Monk in Orange making his way over the field tenderly caring for wounded soldiers from both sides. The monk was absolutely calm, serene, deatched, graceful and peaceful as he went from body to body. The King, even though he had at that moment gained almost everything the physical world could provide realized he did not have what the monk had...peace of mind and that without that he really had nothing of value.
So he had his officers bring the monk to him in order to teach him love, compassion and true leadership. Thus he converted to Buddhism and set out to make India and the asian countries he ruled, understand and respect the dharma. He had edicts and inscriptions written on massive stone pillars, on rocks and in caves declaring the importance of the dharma, the importance of love and respect for all living beings.
On the 11th Pillar the edict transcribed reads as translated from the original Brahmi:
And it consists of this: proper behavior towards servants and employees, respect for mother and father, generosity to friends, companions, relations, Brahmans and ascetics, and not killing living beings. Therefore a father, a son, a brother, a master, a friend, a companion or a neighbor should say: "This is good, this should be done." One benefits in this world and gains great merit in the next by giving the gift of the Dhamma.htmlhttps://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html
Asoko set out to put out the fire, first in himself and then in the world.
We do not have to become Buddhists. Even Asoko did not force Buddhism on others. We can continue to practice any religion we like but maybe we can learn to live a little better by adhering to Buddhist philosophy.
We can learn that greed and hatred are not the answer for a peaceful life. They are based on the delusion that there is such thing as "others" .
We are all one Loving awareness. We do not need to burn our world down and each of us in it. Let's put out the fires with love and compassion.
Jack Kornfield is an amazing teacher. Have a listen.
All is well.
Jack Kornfield (July 15, 2020) The Medicine of the Dharma.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfLkuoDaOBQ
Ven S. Dhammika (1993 ) The Edicts of Ling Ashoka. Buddhist Publications Society https://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html
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