BROADCASTS.com

b'

\\xa0

The practice of non-violence Buddha explains in the chapter of the Dhammapada called \\u201cViolence\\u201d refers to abandoning both the killing of living beings and the violence of our speech. Sometimes we harm other people most with our speech. Unlike a physical wound, hurtful words may cut a person throughout their whole life. Our words our very powerful. As people create their self (a mere perception), unkind words can shape their identity.\\xa0

Non-violence means to not harm or retaliate. We can learn to not retaliate towards those who irritate or harm us by developing compassion for them. These are the steps of the practice:

Step one. Know that forgiveness of another person is necessary for our own mental peace and sanity. When we forgive others it helps us most of all.\\xa0

Step two. Try to separate the person from their uncontrolled minds like anger, jealousy, attachment and so forth. These uncontrolled minds are the real enemies of ourselves and others. They destroy our happiness and cause us to harm others.\\xa0

Step three. We contemplate the ways that the person who harms us is suffering or is causing their own future suffering. We try to generate real compassion for them.\\xa0

Step 4. We make a determination that through the week, whenever we start to think negatively about that person, we will instead move our mind to consider the ways that they suffer. We will try, through mindfulness, to replace our thoughts of anger with thoughts of compassion.

\\xa0

In June 1965, after another self-immolation by a Buddhist monk in Vietnam, spiritual teacher Thich Nhat Hanh felt compelled to write an open letter to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King had just received the Nobel Peace Prize the year before for his leadership in the struggle for racial equality. In that letter, Nhat Hanh attempted to explain the spiritual intent of the immolations. He also urged Dr. King to speak out for America\\u2019s withdrawal towards peace in Vietnam. Through this gesture, Dr. King and Thich Nhat Hanh began a conversation, which transformed them both. Their engagement and eventual deep mutual friendship. In the letter, he writes:

\\xa0

\\u201cI believe with all my heart that the monks who burned themselves did not aim at the death of the oppressors but only at a change in their policy. Their enemies are not man. They are intolerance, fanaticism, dictatorship, cupidity, hatred, and discrimination which lie within the heart of man. I also believe with all my being that the struggle for equality and freedom you lead in Birmingham, Alabama\\u2026 is not aimed at the whites but only at intolerance, hatred, and discrimination. These are real enemies of man \\u2014 not man himself.\\u201d

\\xa0

Through this gesture, Dr. King and Thich Nhat Hanh began a conversation, which transformed them both. Their engagement and eventual deep mutual friendship.

All tremble at violence;

All fear death.\\xa0

Seeing others as being like yourself,\\xa0

Do not kill or cause others to kill. (129)*\\xa0

\\xa0

All tremble at violence;\\xa0

Life is dear for all.\\xa0

Seeing others as being like yourself,\\xa0

Do not kill or cause others to kill. (130)*\\xa0

\\xa0

If, desiring happiness,\\xa0

You use violence\\xa0

To harm living beings who desire happiness,\\xa0

You won\\u2019t find happiness after death. (131)

\\xa0

If, desiring happiness,\\xa0

You do not use violence

To harm living beings who desire happiness,\\xa0

You will find happiness after death. (132)\\xa0

\\xa0

Don\\u2019t speak harshly to anyone;\\xa0

What you say will be said back to you.\\xa0

Hostile speech is painful,\\xa0

And you will meet with retaliation. (133)

\\xa0

References

\\xa0

Buddha. The Dhammapada: The Buddha\\u2019s Path of Wisdom. Translated by Acharya Buddharakkhita. Buddhist Publication Society Kandy, 1985. pp. 35-36.

\\xa0

Je Tsongkhapa. Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Volume 1. Pages 218-220. Translated by the Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee. Joshua Cutler, Editor-in-Chief, and Guy Newlan, Editor.

\\xa0

Je Tsongkhapa. Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Volume 3. Pages 53-54. Translated by the Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee. Joshua Cutler, Editor-in-Chief, and Guy Newlan, Editor.

\\xa0

Project Pengyou. Message from our Founder on MLK\\u2019s Legacy of Friendship with Thich Nhat Hanh. January 15th, 2018. Link to article.\\xa0

\\xa0