Being Peace in dark times
This is a blog post about hope. To get to hope I have to travel through hate and fear and violence. But I do get there. You might even say that without those difficulties we can’t have the hope at all.
I watched the violent disorder that erupted after the murder of 3 young girls in Southport with increasing dismay. I felt despair and fear as I watched the violence and hatred perpetrated on refugees, some of the most vulnerable and traumatised people who have come to this country, many from war zones, for safe haven. I watched the willingness of people to blame those around them who were perceived as ‘other’ and then use the most extreme and violent language and actions to attack them.
How can the practise of engaged Buddhism help me here? The practise has to be able to help me deal with this, or what use is it? These were some of the thoughts that came into my mind in response to what I saw. So, I waited and tried to stay present in my body with my breath and not be carried away by strong emotions.
There was a real possibility that there would be violence in Liverpool on 2nd August. The previous evening, rioters had attacked police, looted shops and burned a library to the ground. That same evening Adam Kelwick, the Imam at Abdullah Quilliam Mosque in Liverpool opened the door of the mosque and walked towards a group of people who were planning to ‘protest’ about Islam. There was a strong chance that the Mosque and those inside would be attacked. Adam had prepared food and drinks for the protesters. He had decided to reach out to those who may mean him harm by offering food and asking them what their problems were and trying to resolve them through dialogue. As he approached them, some of the group ignored him completely. But others took drinks and food and he was able to begin conversations with a few. This led to him inviting some of them to meet in the Mosque to discuss how they might work together to address some of the concerns that people had. There was a photograph of Adam hugging a ‘protester’ in a black hooded top. Adam was smiling with an expression that looked like pure joy.
The image made me cry with relief and something that felt like hope. And I looked again to the practise to see what insights were there.
My understanding is that our practice is based on the Buddha’s first teaching of the 4 Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold path. There is suffering and a path that leads to suffering. There is wellbeing and a path that leads to wellbeing. The Eightfold path is that path that leads to wellbeing.
The first step on that path is the insight of Interbeing. We are not separate from each other and the Earth. I looked at the actions of Adam Kelwick and I saw that he was acting from a deep conviction that this was the case. How else could he have taken that first step from inside the Mosque to speak to people who possibly meant him harm? If he didn’t see that there was a commonality between them based on their experiences and truly believe that reconciliation was possible, I don’t believe that he could have found the courage to do that. I then saw how the next steps on that path follow naturally from that first insight. Right Thought, Right Speech and Right Action was clearly taking food and trying to speak to the group with compassion and peace in his heart. And he succeeded.
I saw that there are Boddhistavas; awakened Beings; amongst us. But even the word Boddhistatva is just a sign that points to something that can’t really be described.
In Zen it is often said that all the Sutras are just a finger pointing to the moon. We should not mistake the finger for the moon. We should not mistake the map for the territory that it describes. For perhaps the first time, it became very clear for me what that actually means.
And then a few days later in response to more planned ‘Far Right’ protests across the country, thousands of Boddhisattvas responded in towns and cities across the country. Streets were filled with peaceful people in cities like Brighton and Bristol by those who came to place their own bodies in the way of the ones who planned acts of violence. And again, I could see that the insight of Interbeing led to this. The peaceful ones were inspired by solidarity and inclusivity. They carried banners that read “Refugees are welcome here.” They acted on the basis that we have more in common with each other than that which divides us. I cried again to see this.
I used the practise to look deeply at what was happening and it helped me to see through a lens of Buddhism and to understand on that conceptual level.
But how do I really know that something is right? I feel my heart opening.
And I see clearly now that there is hope.
There is hope because with the insight of Interbeing I know that I am not separate from those around me.
I am not separate from the entire universe. The universe is in me and I am in the universe. Because of that, everything I do changes the universe a little bit. Every time I act from the standpoint of Interbeing, with compassion, I change the universe a little bit in that direction.
It all matters. Everything I do matters for that reason.
From smiling to someone on the bus; to resolving difficulties with my partner; to walking with love in my heart towards people who may mean me harm, it matters.
With that insight I stopped feeling powerless and the despair subsided. This practice allows me to see my interconnection with all things and that I do have agency for that reason.
The following weekend I attended a rally for peace in Manchester called by Stand Up To Racism. There may have been between one and two thousand of us gathered to listen to speakers and show our solidarity and commitment to peace. I brought my own practice to the event and did my best to follow my breathing and my steps as the crowd began to move off around the city centre and we walked together peacefully.
There is more to do. The conditions that led to the violence are still present. But I know that I have the courage and the compassion to act from a place of understanding. And I offer this message of hope and peace with compassion in my heart.
Jon Hughes, Blooming Insight of the Heart
cover photo: Alberto Pezzali / photo
