“Looking deeply into the present moment, we know what to do and what not to do to save our precious planet and each other.” Thich Nhat Hanh
How can social activists use meditation?
Jack Kornfield warns that social action without attention to our personal needs is dangerous: “When peace protestors (like me) bring aggression and hate to the generals and politicians, we are simply recreating their war. Instead, we must remember that the world’s current problems are fundamentally a spiritual crisis created by the limited vision of human beings. To face the sorrow in the world around us, we must face these forces in ourselves.”
Thich Nhat Hanh writes: “After a period of intense involvement, people engaged in political, social and environmental work may become discouraged if they lack the strength to sustain a life of action.” He offers mindfulness meditation instruction as a way to develop the deep, inner peace that will support an activist’s work. He says: “I have seen this peace in the people of various religious and cultural backgrounds who spend their time and energy protecting the weak, struggling for social justice, and so forth. They show the fruits of meditation – clarity, determination and patience – which you can cultivate if you practice mindfulness in each moment of your daily life.” He offers specific mindfulness meditation instructions in the books listed below.
Joanna Macy’s book, World as Lover, World as Self is about moving off our meditation cushions and into the world. Writing specifically to social activists, Macy says: “Haunted by the desperate needs of our time and beset by more commitments than we can carry, we may wonder how to make time for spiritual disciplines.” Macy offers dozens of meditation exercises to “wake up the spiritual power within us” including this one: The Great Ball of Merit, which is designed to take heart and gather strength for difficult work.
“Relax and close your eyes. Open your awareness to the fellow beings who share this planet time with you. See their multitudes in your mind’s eye. Now let your awareness open wider still, to encompass all beings who ever lived of all races and creeds and walks of life, rich, poor, kings, beggars, saints and sinners. See the vast vistas of these fellow beings stretching into the distance, like successive mountain ranges. Now consider the fact that in each of these innumerable lives, some act of merit was performed. No matter how stunted or deprived the life, there was a gesture of generosity, a gift of love, an act of valor or self-sacrifice, on the battlefield or workplace, hospital or home. From these beings in their endless multitudes arose actions of courage and kindess, of teaching and healing. Let yourself see these manifold and immeasurable acts of merit."
“Now imagine you can sweep together these acts of merit, sweep them into a pile in front of you. Use your hands. Pile them up. Pile them into a heap viewing it with gladness and gratitude. Now pat them into a ball. It is the Great Ball of Merit. Hold it now and weigh it in your hands. Rejoice in it, knowing that no act of goodness is ever lost. It remains ever and always a present resource, a means for the transformation of life. So now, with jubilation and gratitude, you turn that great ball. Turn it over into the healing of our world.”
Books Available from Amazon
A Path With Heart, by Jack Kornfield ($12) A meditation teacher and social activist, Kornfield offers practical advice and personal anecdotes about meditation.
Meditation for Beginners: Six Meditations for Insight, Greater Clarity and Cultivating a Compassionate Heart, by Jack Kornfield ($20) hardback book with CD or CD without the book. Kornfield uses clear language and step-by-step demonstrations to show how simple it is to start - and stick with - a daily meditation practice. In this complete beginner's course, Jack introduces the "Insight" tradition of Buddhist meditation.
The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation, by Thich Nhat Hanh ($10) and on cassette ($13) This book offers 30 specific meditation exercises that anyone can practice to develop mindfulness. Its an excellent introduction to the subject.
Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh ($11) Commentaries, meditations and anecdotes.
World as Lover, World as Self, by Joanna Macy ($11) Macy writes about meditation in action, detailing how to 'make sense of the world adn find the capacity to enter it and take action creatively and with authority.'
Links
Jack Kornfield co-founded the Insight Meditation Society www.ims.org and Spirit Rock meditation center www.spiritrock.org. His biography and teaching schedule are available at the Spirit Rock site.
Thich Nhat Hanh founded a practice center called
Plum Village. Their site has information about him and his teaching schedule. Joanna Macy's biography and teaching schedule are posted at www.joannamacy.net
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship was founded by Robert Aitken. Pema Chodron, thich nhat hanh and Joanna Macy are on the advisory board. The BPF site has links to socially engaged groups of meditators. www.bpf.org
Dharmanet.org has links to socially engaged Buddhist groups and other social activist organizations at www.dharmanet.org.
