THE BUDDHA OF THE BATTLEFIELD

I would like to share the following with you.
Peace,
Joe Mulligan, S.J.

THE BUDDHA OF THE BATTLEFIELD

A friend of mine who has been working in Cambodia for many years, Bob Maat, sent me a book, MAHA GHOSANANDA – THE BUDDHA OF THE BATTLEFIELD, by Santidhammo Bhikkhu, an American Buddhist monk. Published in Thailand by S.R. Printing Co., the book describes the life and thought of Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian Buddhist monk who dedicated his life to peace in his country and organized many pilgrimages for peace (Dhammayietra) through the war-torn countryside, often at great danger to himself, other monks, and other participants. He died in 2007.

I would like to share with you the following paragraphs:

1. On ecology:

In 1996 Maha Ghosananda turned his attention to illegal logging and environmental devastation in Cambodia. Dhammayietra V focused on deforestation and the link between militarism, illegal logging and the ongoing civil war. Maha Ghosananda pointed out the link between healthy forests and the vitality of the Buddhist order. The walk took place against a background of continued violence as the Khmer Rouge continued to fight with the Phnom Penh government throughout the year with thousands of Cambodian casualties.

Seven hundred people took part in the Dhammayietra V, a march through some of the provinces most damaged by deforestation. Two thousand trees were planted along the pilgrimage route, and 90,000 fliers on deforestation were distributed. They also gave public talks in the villages through which they passed.

As the march passed through each village, Maha Ghosananda ordained a tree, to emphasize their sacred nature. “When we ordained a tree, it became a monk,” he explained. “When you kill the tree, then you kill the monk.”

Maha Ghosananda stressed the Buddhist values as a basis for social reconciliation and compassion, encouraging the listeners to “remove the land mines of hatred from our hearts....”
“When we respect the environment, then nature will be good to us,” he said. “The trees are like our mother and father. They feed us and nourish us: provide us with everything – the fruit, the leaves, the branches, the trunk. They give us food and satisfy many of our needs. But if we just cut down the trees it won´t rain any more. The trees make it rain. So on the Dhammayietra we are spreading the Dhamma of protecting ourselves and protecting our environment, which is the Dhamma of the Buddha” (pp. 67-68).


2. On the temples of human experience, temples filled with suffering:

In July of 1995 Maha Ghosananda prepared a paper entitled “The Human Family” that he delivered at the Gethsemane Encounter, a gathering of Buddhist and Christian monks held at the Trappist Monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemane in Kentucky, the home of the great spiritual writer Thomas Merton.

The Gethsemane Encounter intended to honor the work of Thomas Merton in building friendship, dialogue and understanding between Catholics and Buddhists. The conference was sponsored by Monastic Inter-religious Dialogue.

Maha Ghosananda asked: “What can Buddhism do to heal the wounds of the world? What did the Buddha teach that we can use to heal and elevate the human condition? One of the Buddha´s most courageous acts was to walk onto a battlefield to stop a conflict. He did not sit in his temple waiting for the oppressors to approach him. He walked right onto the battlefield to stop the conflict.

“We Buddhists must find the courage to leave our temples and enter the temples of contemporary human experience, temples filled with suffering. If we listen to the Buddha, Christ, or Gandhi, we can do nothing else. The refugee camps, the prisons, the ghettos, and the battlefield will then become our temples. We have so much work to do.

“This will be a slow transformation, for many people throughout Asia have been trained to rely on the traditional monkhood. Many Cambodians tell me, ‘Venerable monks belong in the temple.’ It is difficult for them to adjust to this new role, but we monks must answer the increasingly loud cries of suffering. We only need to remember that our temple is always with us. We are our temple” (pp. 68, 84, 89).


3. On old age:
On one occasion a newspaper reporter questioned Maha Ghosananda: “In your long and eventful life, you must have had some special moments.”
“Yes,” Ghosananda responded.
“Which ones?” the reporter questioned.
“Every moment,” Ghosananda answered (p. 79).


4. On nonviolence and reconciliation:

“The cause of fighting and war is greed, anger, hatred and ignorance. The cause of peace is morality, concentration and wisdom. Also truthfulness and gratitude. When we have truth there is no more greed. When there is compassion there is no more anger. When there is wisdom there is no more ignorance. So there is no more fighting. We must keep morality.” [Hughes 1998] p. 83.

“Hatred will kill you.There is no need for another enemy. Hatred will kill you” (p. 83).

“Don´t struggle with people, with men. Struggle with the goals and conditions that make men fight each other” (p. 84).

“If we can not be happy despite our difficulties, what good is our spiritual practice?” (p. 84).

“I do not question that loving one´s oppressors – Cambodians loving the Khmer Rouge – may be the most difficult attitude to achieve. But it is a way of the universe that retaliation, hatred, and revenge only continue the cycle and never stop it. Reconciliation does not mean that we surrender rights and conditions. It means that we see ourselves in the opponent – for what is the opponent but a being in ignorance, and we ourselves are also ignorant of many things. Therefore, only loving kindness and right mindfulness can free us. [From his essay, The Human Family]. (p. 85).

“In 1981 the United Nations held a conference to discuss the future of Cambodia. During that time we held a Buddhist ceremony for peace. At the end of the ceremony, a Khmer Rouge leader came up to me, very cautiously, and asked if I would come to Thailand to build a temple at the border. I said that I would.

“‘Oh!’ thought many people. ‘He is talking to the enemy. He is helping the enemy! How can he do that?’ I reminded them that love embraces all beings, whether they are noble-minded or low-minded, good or evil.

“Both the noble and the good are embraced because loving kindness flows to them spontaneously. The unwholesome-minded must be included because they are the ones who need loving kindness the most. In many of them, the seed of goodness may have died because warmth was lacking for its growth. It perished from coldness in a world without compassion” (p. 87).

“Victory creates hatred. Defeat creates suffering. The wise ones wish for neither victory nor defeat.
“We can oppose selfishness with the weapons of generosity. We can oppose ignorance with the weapons of wisdom. We can oppose hatred with the weapon of loving kindness” (p. 88).

“How do we resolve a conflict, a battle, a power struggle? What does reconciliation really mean? Gandhi said that the essence of nonviolent action is that it seeks to put an end to antagonism, not antagonists. This is important. The opponent has our respect. We implicitly trust his or her human nature and understand that ill-will is caused by ignorance. By appealing to the best in each other, both of us achieve the satisfaction of peace. We both become peacemakers. Gandhi called this a ‘bilateral victory’” (p. 89).


5. On seeing truth face to face:

“Many religious leaders preach that
there is only one way to salvation.
I listen with a smile but I do not agree.
Two thousand five hundred years ago,
the Buddha told his disciple Kalama:
Do not accept anything simply
because it has been said by your teacher.
Or because it has been written in your sacred books,
Or because it has been believed by many,
Or because it has been handed down by your ancestors.
Accept and live only according to what will enable you
to see truth face to face” (p. 85).

END