........."Anyone who, for only a second, gives rise to a pure and clear confidence upon hearing these .........words of the Tathagata [the Buddha], the Tathagata sees and knows that person, and he or she .........will attain immeasurable happiness because of this understanding."
This sentence in the Diamond Sutra became clear to me one day several years ago as I was reading a poem I had written in 1967 for the brothers and sisters of the School of Youth for Social Service. It was a pleasant surprise to have insight into a sutra by reading or doing something else. I discovered that reading a sutra is like planting a tree inside our being. When we walk, look at the clouds, or read something else, the tree grows and it may reveal itself to us.
By 1967, the war in Vietnam had become so terrifying and destructive that many of the young social workers, monks, and nuns in the School of Youth for Social Service had to evacuate villagers even as the bombs were dropping. Already in exile, I received news from time to time that a brother or a sister of our school had been killed while doing this work. Neither the communists nor the anticommunists accepted our Buddhist movement. The communists thought that we were backed by the CIA, and the pro-American side suspected that we were communists. We would not accept the killing by either side. We only wanted reconciliation.
One evening, five young brothers were shot and four died. The one survivor told Sister Chan Khong that the killers had taken them to the riverbank, asked if they were members of the School of Youth for Social Service, and, when they "Yes," said "We are very sorry, but we have to kill you."
When I heard the news, I cried. A friend asked me, "Why do you cry? You are the commander-in-chief of a nonviolent army working for love. There are certain losses every army has to take. You are not taking the lives of people, you are saving lives. Even for warriors of love in a nonviolent army, casualties are inevitable."
I told him, "I am not a commander-in-chief. I am just a person. These young people joined the School in response to my call, and now they are dead. Of course I cry."
I wrote a poem for the brothers and sisters at the School and asked them to read it carefully. In that poem I told them never to look at anyone with hatred, even if they hate you, suppress you, kill you, or step on your life as if you were a wild plant or an insect. If you die because of violence, you must meditate on compassion in order to forgive those who killed you. The title of the poem is "Recommendation." Our only enemies are greed, violence, and fanaticism. When you die realizing this state of compassion, you are truly a child of the Awakened One. Before immolating herself to call for a cease-fire between the warring sides, my disciple, Sister Nhat Chi Mai, read the same poem into a cassette recorder and left the tape for her parents.
Promise me,
promise me this day,
promise me now,
while the sun is overhead
exactly at the zenith,
promise me:
Even as they
strike you down
with a mountain of hatred and violence;
even as they step on you and crush you
like a worm,
even as they dismember and disembowel you,
remember, brother,
remember:
man is not our enemy.
The only thing worthy of you is compassion—
invincible, limitless, unconditional.
Hatred will never let you face
the beast in man.
One day, when you face this beast alone,
with your courage intact, your eyes kind,
untroubled
(even as no one sees them)
out of your smile
will bloom a flower.
And those who love you
will behold you
across ten thousand worlds of birth and dying.
Alone again,
I will go on with bent head,
knowing that love has become eternal.
On that long, rough road,
the sun and the moon
will continue to shine
guiding my way.
Even if you are dying in oppression, shame, and violence, if you can smile with forgiveness, you have a great power. When I was rereading these lines, I suddenly understood the Diamond Sutra: "Your courage intact, your calm eyes full of love, even if no one knows of your smile, blossoming as a flower in solitude and great pain, those who love you will still see you, while traveling through a thousand worlds of birth and death." If you die with compassion in your mind, you are a torch lighting our path.
---Thich Nhat Hanh, in his commentary on The Diamond Sutra---
No comments:
Post a Comment