Non-Violence, like anything in life is subject to the context of the conditions.  Do we stand aside and allow someone to club our child to death because we believe in non-violence?  I don’t believe so.  I believe instead it comes down to motivations and conditions relative to each situation.  If we operate from a position of compassion that allows us to have a sincere concern for others and a sense of unity with everyone, even the threatening person, then we will be able to act in the spirit of non-violence even while we may need to commit violence.

While in Dayton, Khenpo Pema went into considerable depth using the following (paraphrased) examples about how varying reasons can motivate the same actions which can then produce varying results.  I found them illuminating.

1) A person chooses not to kill because of the consequences to himself .  He fears such things as the loss of freedom, salvation, quality of life. 
For these reasons the person does not kill. 
As a result, the community is safer not because of compassion, but rather self interest which may breed more of the same.

A second person also chooses not to kill from a place of compassion.  He restrains himself because he recognizes unity between himself and this other person and has a sincere concern for him regardless of their differences or the offence.
For these reasons the person does not kill.
As a result, the community is safer and perhaps feels a sense of community and compassion arising from this person.

2) In another example a person physically harms another because of strong emotions like anger, jealousy, or revenge.
This person commits a violent act.
As a result a person is harmed and the community feels a sense of danger, isolation, suspicion.

A second person also physically harms another but from a place of compassion.  He acts to prevent that other person from causing injury to others, and in so doing causing karmic injury to himself.
This person commits a violent act.
As a result of this person’s violence, those protected people and the community as a whole feel a sense of safety, optimism, and unity.  The victim is spared the karmic repercussions of his intended actions.

3) In a third example a person chooses to kill him or herself because of emotions like despair, loneliness, or retribution by punishing others with the act.
The person kills him or herself.
As a result, others suffer, some to severe degrees.  The community feels sorrow, confusion, and a sense of helplessness.

A second person chooses to kill him or herself as a dramatic statement to bring universal awareness to a severe condition ie. the self-immolation of Buddhist monks.
The person kills him or herself.
As a result the community is horrified and confused, others suffer.  The condition is brought into global awareness and stimulates numerous debates and news reports.

Everything in life is dependent upon and relative to conditions.  Not only do I think we will confound ourselves by seeking one definite universal answer, but I think that the attachment to finding that all purpose answer will lead us further from the understanding of the heart of wisdom.

Everything exists in context.  To dismiss context is to dismiss reality.  To dismiss reality is to condemn ourselves to endless contemplation of our own limited perceptions – which of course, we do quite often.

It’s staggering how frequently we dismiss the motivations and conditions of events.  Usually we do this when we are feeling disadvantaged or challenged in some way.  In those cases we really don’t want to acknowledge the conditions involved with our unique situation, nor do we want to know about the conditions involved for the other people with whom we have grouped ourselves.

For example, we might feel that someone speaks to us with less respect than he/she does to other people.  If we have decided to cling to this perspective, we do not want to consider that those other people may include his/her boss, parent, spouse, closest friend, teacher, potential client, potential sponsor, all of whom would require him/her to speak in a way that may appear more respectful than the tone of discourse we are receiving.

Another example might be a teacher who pushes us harder and expects more of us than he/she does the other students.  We might feel that this is unfair, both because we have to work so much harder and because we feel others, who are not working as hard, are undeserving of the same accolades as us.  If we have decided to cling to this perspective of unfairness, we will not want to consider the specific circumstances, needs, and learning styles that differ between us.

Distinct motivations and conditions are not just relevant, they are intrinsic to recognizing the reality of an event or interaction.  When we understand this, we immediately see that no two events are ever the same.  Each interaction, no matter how seemingly similar, is a unique engagement that is best viewed through fresh eyes.

On my recent trip, I had numerous opportunities to exchange stories with my friends.  One friend in particular has a particularly impressive collection of stories.  In fact I was marveling at how he was able to recognize a story in the most mundane, non-eventful situations.  It seemed unlikely to both of us that he led a more story worthy life, so we deduced that it had to do with his degree of awareness and ability to recognize significance.  We shared a few more and I vowed to be more diligent in my efforts to be aware.

A few days later in Dayton, Anshu Stephen K. Hayes and Khenpo Pema discussed numerous techniques for promoting mindfulness.  Guess what one of the suggestions was?   Accumulate stories!  Affirmation is so much fun.  Now to be fair, Anshu has told and modeled this teaching continuously over the years but the timing of this statement was particularly keen because I was so aware!

During and since my trip I have made a concerted effort to recognize the significance and story worthiness of the little moments in my life.  Some I will share in this format, others I’ll reserve for conversations, some I might just keep for myself.  In any event, my continual search for the next story has helped to make me more aware.  For this I thank my teachers and loquacious friends.

While on a walk with my husband we happened by a pool of water that had collected on the shoulder of the road.  This pool had been there long enough to grow ample amounts of algae and provide a delightful habitat for a multitude of tadpoles.  We were amazed that so much life had spawned in such a short amount of time.

This led me to thoughts on the relative perception of permanence.  To the frog, whose young will only need the watery habitat for a short time, the pool probably seems permanent.  In fact, as I looked at our local grocery store, it occurs to me that it has “always” been there.
So now I ponder a fundamental difference between the many cultures of the world.  Permanence has a very different meaning to a culture that thinks in terms of one person’s life as compared to a culture that views time in terms of a family lineage, or one that views time in terms of all reincarnations of a single essence.  Is it any wonder that we sometimes find it hard to communicate?

Much of the teachings that I received in both Bloomington and Dayton involved Dependent Origination and the an absence of Independent Origination.  In the case of this blog entry, I’m referring specifically to thought.

As I glance through Facebook status posts I see a wealth of wonderful sentiments.  Some of them come in the form of direct quotations and others are statements that we create like a profound  little poem.  The creations that come from our own minds are personal expressions of our perceptions, interpretations, and deductions.  By that standard they are indeed original but not independent.

Each thought that we have has been influenced by what we have heard, read, seen, felt, smelled, or experienced from our first moment of consciousness.  The footnotes, if we were required to include them, to any statement that we create would be so long as to seem endless.  In fact if I were to begin footnoting this last paragraph I would have to include everyone from the Dalai Lama, Anshu, Khenpo Pema, every friend with whom I exchanged ideas over the week, and on to various other friends, teachers, and strangers with whom I have interacted over the last 49 years, including my husband, father, mother, sisters and sons! 

The last footnoted source, my sons, brings its own fun.  My sons and I have had a ping ponging exchange of knowledge since the beginning of their lives.  Each time one of us receives some input through our own perception, we bounce it around and then put it back out into the world in a slightly new and augmented form, which is then received, bounced, and delivered back again in a new form in the future.  I have watched this evolution of thought and knowledge very consciously over the years.  Truly it is fascinating!  Now I find myself frequently inspired and humbled by the wisdom of my children!  And while strongly influenced by me, their wisdom is without a doubt their own.  This is why knowledge cannot be copyrighted, because thought has no independent origination.

I was in Dayton, Ohio receiving teachings from Anshu Stephen K. Hayes and Khenpo Pema Ts’al. Khenpo Pema shared a wonderful metaphor on non-attachment that resonated very strongly with me and my thoughts on having no preference.

In archery, great joy comes from hitting the target.  Everyone seeks this joy.  Unfortunately a target is very small and hard to hit so many of our attempts will end in failure.  This failure brings us sorrow and disappointment.  If, however, we have no specific target, and instead have the point of view that anything we hit will be the target, then we will always have the joy of hitting the target each and every time we shoot an arrow. – paraphrased metaphor by Khenpo Pema Ts’al

On the way to Bloomington, my friends and I were discussing the many reasons and goals that people might have for attending the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  We compared it to seminars that we frequently attend where each event presents a unique experience and learning opportunity to not only each particular person but for ourselves on each distinct occasion.  So after this in depth conversation, I got a real kick out of the person in seat 305.

This impeccably groomed, and traditionally attired Asian lady was sitting next to me.  When His Holiness took the stage she went through many devotional gestures which she continued sporadically into the first fifteen minutes of his teachings.  She listened attentively when the Dalai Lama spoke in general terms of moral principals and compassion however when he began to address the more in depth teachings she began chatting to her friend.  We broke for lunch and I saw her at the Sponsorship Luncheon where she had an opportunity to get very close to His Holiness.  The afternoon session went the same way as the previous except that when His Holiness began an academic study (sometimes word by word) of the Heart Sutra she fell into a sound sleep!  She slept for two hours!  The following morning she skipped the chatting stage and went immediately from the devotional gestures into sleep mode.  His Holiness, of course, was continuing with some very academic teachings!

So, the Asian lady’s reason and goal clearly centered around devotion and I imagine that she had a very successful and gratifying experience.  Mission accomplished!

I had two reasons for making this trip: to absorb the overall experience of a teaching with the Dalai Lama, and academic study of the Heart Sutra.  As a result, I explored devotional gestures to discover what felt correct for me, I listened intently, I exchanged a sentence or two on occasion, I took copious notes, and I slept not at all.  I had a very successful and gratifying experience.  Mission accomplished!

I recently traveled to Bloomington, Indiana to receive the teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  There is so much to write about the teachings and subsequent discoveries of the trip in general that I thought I would begin at the beginning.

I was fortunate to be sitting in the 4th row where I could clearly see the many diverse people invited to share the stage with the Dalai Lama.  Sitting on cushions in front and on either side of him were monks from various cultures, Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, Korean, as well as Tibetan.  Upon the risers on either side were an assortment of spiritual teachers and representatives seated on chairs from both Western religions and other Eastern religions.

From the very beginning, the Dalai Lama welcomed people of all faiths and went into depth describing the three approaches to attaining and living with moral principals.
1)    Religion – Faith in God
2)    Law of Causality – Buddhist philosophy and religion
3)    Common Experience – Compassion

I found it surprising to hear him lead off with the benefits of the path of non-Buddhist religions.  He spoke with sincerity and deep respect of how faith and submission to God leads believers to compassion and a life built upon moral principal. 

I have always believed that there are many paths to the same goal, but I have never heard of a spiritual leader going into such depth to describe, acknowledge and applaud the beliefs and practices of others.  It was made even more powerful by the fact that he led with this at a Buddhist teaching.  Truly His Holiness is a person of sincere compassion and his example spoke volumes to me.

He closed the two day teachings with a group recitation to dedicate the merit of our studies.  After the first recitation, he paused to provide possible alternate prayers for the other major faiths such as Christianity, Hindu and Islam.  He then encouraged everyone to pray and acknowledge according to his or her own faith as he and those inclined proceeded to perform the recitation two more times.

His Holiness demonstrated true compassion and respect for all people and all faith not just the empty words that I am so accustomed to hearing from those who only believe in the merit of their one way.

There is a difference between Having a strong opinion and Holding Strongly To an opinion.
Opinions and preferences are the motivators for our actions. Where we live, how we make a living, with whom we enjoy our time, are all decided by having an opinion or a preference. Living in modern society requires choice and choice requires opinion and preference, some of which are extremely strong.

The act of Holding Strongly To An Opinion  causes us to become invested - emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually. When we hold strongly to an opinion we tend to go far out on the proverbial limb. We both align and alienate ourselves. We define who we are and build our lives by and around our strongly held views. Any conflicting information or event might lead us to change on a foundational, and therefore monumental, level. Therefore, the greater our investment becomes, the more we have at stake in perpetuating it.
 
When we hold strongly to an opinion we become attached to the outcome. Our friends, associations, self view, our very way of life may be at stake. Because of this we view every situation or piece of new information with either hope or dread: hope that what we hear, read or experience will continue to support and justify our investment, dread that what we will discover will force us to make undesired changes.  There is one way to avoid hope or dread and that is to close ourselves off so completely that we will not even acknowledge any opposing information or event. In this way we can insulate ourselves completely from the threat of change. But at what price?
 
Having an opinion or preference Without holding strongly to it means that  it exists in this moment in time. It is renting rather than owning a place in our life. As such, it is constantly open to new assessment. We neither hope nor dread because we have not become attached in the outcome. Although we may speak strongly or act decisively, we accept the possibility that we might learn or experience something  that will cause us to speak or act differently in the future – or not. This may sound scary when considering weighty topics such as murder, civil rights, religion. It can be. It requires courage to maintain that degree of openness when you feel so strongly now. But if your belief is ultimate truth, won’t it prove to be ultimate truth tomorrow? And if it’s not, wouldn’t you wish to know? It may sound tiring as well. We like to check things off of our to do list, like our multiplication table. Once we’ve learned it we never have to revisit it. We like to do that with our preferences, beliefs and opinions as well.

The trick is to meet each new piece of information or experience with a clean slate – no preference, no bias, no hope, no dread. Therein lies the truth. Easier said than done.