When We Look Deeply: May's Meeting Topic
“Of course, it is very difficult to forgive the person who harms us. Our first response is anger and a desire for revenge. We suffer. If, however, we are able to look deeply in light of interdependent co-arising, we may be able to see that if we had grown up, been educated, or experienced life the way that that criminal had, we would not be very different from him. When we understand this, we may even begin to feel protective toward him instead of angry or vengeful.In the Buddhist tradition there are many stories, called Jatakas, of the previous lives of the Buddha. As a bodhisattva, he practiced inclusiveness and forbearance. There are stories of him smiling while his body is being sawed into pieces.As a young boy I read the Jatakas and I could not understand how a human being could be that patient and forgiving. I was too young to understand that the Buddha was able to practice that way because he had the eyes of understanding and could see the causes and conditions that had led to the cruelty and inhumanity of the person who was harming him. "The ability to see" is the raw material in a bodhisattva that leads to great compassion. Someone who has not looked deeply and has not yet tasted great compassion cannot understand the inclusiveness of a bodhisattva. But when, having looked deeply, we get even a small taste of compassion, we are able to understand and love those who are cruel and irresponsible. We are able to understand the smile of the bodhisattva.”
We read some excerpts, including this one, from an article by Thich Nhat Hanh, When We Look Deeply, from the Summer 2019 Issue of Buddhadharma. From the book: Understanding Our Mind: Fifty Verses on Buddhist Psychology (Parallax Press)
This was followed by a guided meditation from Joanna Macy's website: Gaia Meditation.
