Christchurch Terror Attack
How is it that Humans do These Things to Other Humans?
Ajahn Chandako
March 16 (2019)
Here at Vimutti Buddhist Monastery, we just finished our monthly ‘Day of Peace’ meditation workshop. The timing could not be more pertinent, the title more apropos. Yesterday a gunman killed 49 people in Christchurch mosques, a shock every bit as powerful as the devastating earthquakes, an ethical shaking whose aftershocks rippled quickly around the globe. It is a valid question to ask, ‘why do people do this to each other?’
Attachment to skin colour should be the most obvious delusion. This epidermis is merely a paper-thin wrapping, and like with birthday presents, the more colours the more beautiful. Attachment to our ethnic or cultural background goes more deep. This is social conditioning that forms a large part of who we think we are: our language, our accent, our traditions. A little identification is relatively harmless, as when we celebrate our roots, a shared heritage or the countries from where our families originated. But if that identification grows strong, such that it increasingly divides people rather than uniting them; and if the identification leads to self-aggrandisement and perceiving others as inferior, then that attachment becomes toxic.
Then you throw religion into the mix….
In Buddhism we attempt to let go of our attachment to our views, opinions and beliefs. We are even encouraged not to attach to the words of the Buddha. We certainly will have views, opinions and beliefs, gradually evolving based on our experience, but we emphasise being open to learning from different perspectives and not to believe blindly. In most other religions, however, unwavering belief in the words written in the holy books is praised. This is seen as an expression of dedication, a sign of true commitment. When these beliefs are presented as holding the key to eternal happiness or pain, then attachment to those beliefs can become rigid to the extreme. It is the attachment that is the problem, not the diversity of practices. Political ideology can also function as a religion, a set of beliefs we have faith in, at times to the extreme.
When you combine attachment to religious beliefs, identification with race, enthusiasm for political ideology and a lack of appreciation for cultural differences, you find yourself with a giant pile of tinder dry fuel. When political or religious leaders then soak it with the petrol of fear, all it takes is a match. And it becomes easier to understand why humans do what they do.
Compassion is the result of empathy for the pain and suffering of others. Sometimes we get so busy, it is simply easier to be callous. Sometimes it is just too hard to make the effort to understand people who are different from us. This is understandable, but it hardens our heart. An incident so horrific as a mass shooting of innocents can shock us into remembering compassion. If there is any silver lining at all to these mass shootings, it is that people are reminded—sometimes forced against their will—to open their heart. We then might see that we don’t need a mass shooting in order to empathise with the pain of others. Our family, friends, colleagues and enemies…they all experience pain too.
As important as it is to empathise with the victims, it is also important to empathise with the perpetrator. You can see how quickly people dehumanise the killer: a monster, a demon, insane. This is unrealistic and unhealthy. Rational and sane people are capable of extreme cruelty. But this is uncomfortable to admit. Because we too are rational and sane. None of us here could imagine perpetrating a mass killing, but it is important to admit that we too have the seeds of those actions in our hearts and minds. Anger is dangerous. Defilements are dangerous. Extreme attachment to a belief is dangerous. Ultimately anything that we identify with that divides us from others is pernicious. In small ways we are still capable of aggression and harming others, so even with the killer, it is possible to empathise. We are both the victims and the killer.
How can humans do these things to other humans? If we dismiss this incident as the one-off work of a lone crazy, we not only downplay the danger of the supremacist ideology, we miss the opportunity to learn from the tragedy, and we unwittingly create the causes for it to happen again in the future. It is normal to feel a kinship with people from our same culture, but can we extend that feeling of kinship to all people? This is more difficult. In the past we could more easily avoid this hard work though geographical separation, but in the 21st century mutual understanding becomes a moral imperative with the urgency of survival.
We are not powerless to effect positive change. But how?
Responding to the present situation with compassion;
recognising the danger of anger in our own heart;
understanding the causes that lead to violence;
and taking action from that place of wisdom and understanding;
this is what we can do to increase peace in the world.
To all the victims of violence and their families, please accept our heartfelt sympathy from Vimutti Buddhist Monastery and the Auckland Theravada Buddhist Association. May terrorism and all forms of violence be eradicated through wisdom.
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Thus he who both day and night takes delight in harmlessness sharing love with all that live, finds enmity with none.
SN I 208
The one who has left violence, who never harm any being, who neither kill, nor causes to kill, such one, gentle, is a Holy Noble One.
Dhammapada 405
The one who is friendly among the hostile, who is harmless among the violent,
who is detached among the greedy, such one is a Holy Noble One.
Dhammapada 406
He, who injures living beings, is not Noble. He is called Noble, because he is gentle
and kind towards all living beings.
Dhammapada 270
Let no one deceive another
or despise anyone anywhere,
or through anger, or irritation,
wish for another to suffer.
Khuddakapatha 9
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No one should feel unsafe in their place of worship. We send #metta to all the victims of the terrorist attacks against #Muslims in New Zealand. 🙏 “We need to think of each other as true brothers and sisters, concerned for each other’s welfare 💛 More fundamental than #religion is our basic human spirituality. We have a basic human disposition towards love, kindness and affection, irrespective of whether we have a religious framework or not. When we nurture this most basic human resource – when we set about cultivating those basic inner values which we all appreciate in others, then we start to live spiritually." The #DalaiLama 🙏
Picture by Ruven Afanador for @Time magazine in the gardens of his private residence in Dharamsala, India on February 18, 2019 via Ulla Tashi 🙏
Lesson from Christchurch: Mind your words
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2019/03/16/lesson-from-christchurch-mind-your-words/
Watch a Muslim broadcaster make stark sense of the New Zealand mosque shootings
https://qz.com/1574225/watch-waleed-aly-on-the-new-zealand-mosque-shootings/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=qz-organic.
Food for Thought
About our own backyard.
Opinion in the News
by Dr. Sharifah Munirah Alatas
'... Ego has no place. Race and religion should never be used as a political tool. Mass political behaviour, being what it is, finds comfort in collective grievances. Use these grievances to unite, not to divide.
Politicians and religious leaders should stop their puppet performances. Academics and public intellectuals should get over their egos and write the truth.
Rhetoric and insincerity have no place in post-GE14 Malaysia. The main takeaway from the Christchurch terrorist act is that the ticking time bomb was wired by political rhetoric and self-serving leaders in the first place. The result is a growing global polarisation between nations, religions and ethnicities.
Let us start to work together, amidst our diversity. This is not a rhetorical request.'
Read in full here...
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2019/03/17/the-ticking-time-bomb-of-hatred/
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