Happy Day of Peace!

Gasshō,
The Buddha left us with what are known as the Three Pure Precepts. In this practice they are stated as: The precept of restraint and religious observance, the precept of obedience to all good laws, and the precept to benefit all sentient beings. In other practices we often see these precepts translated as: Cease from evil, do only good, and do good for others. The practical, daily application of this guidance is: See through and let go egocentric, karmic conditioning; live in the present with an accepting heart; and do good works, offer service.

The Buddha guided us toward this orientation to life by reminding us that “All beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life.” He encouraged us to “See yourself in others,” and then asked “Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?”

Jesus taught “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  My personal favorite is “As you do unto the least of my brethren, so do you unto me.”

We must be very careful here, mustn’t we? “See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt?” The answer is very different if we are looking from the conscious, compassionate awareness and unconditional acceptance of center or if we are looking from egocentric, karmic conditioning. From center, harmfulness is not possible. From egocentric, karmic conditioning, harmfulness is all that is available. “Love your neighbor as yourself” from center is the greatest love a human can know; from ego it is a quick trip to self-hate, judgment, and cruelty. From center, the self is neither the “least” nor the “greatest.” The self is a magnificent expression of life and as such worthy of all love and respect.

Today, September 21, is the “International Day of Peace.” It is humanity’s first global holiday.

This day was designated by the United Nations to:
“Devote a specific time to concentrate the efforts of the United Nations and its Member States, as well as of the whole of mankind, to promoting the ideals of peace and to giving positive evidence of their commitment to peace in all viable ways… (The International Day of Peace) should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.
May this Peace Day indeed be a day of peace.”

It’s easy for those of us doing awareness practice to assume that to have peace, to be peaceful, we have to let go of what we’re doing instead. “Peace is what’s there when you stop doing everything else.” True. But if we’re not careful, our very effort to let go can put us in the same oppositional, antagonistic relationship with our self that leads nations to violence and war. What is the real danger in trying to fix ourselves? Trying to change or improve one’s self creates an opening for egocentric, karmic conditioning to come in and take over the job. “You’re not peaceful. You should be peaceful. You need to stop being the way you are so you can be the way you should be—peaceful.”  This will never work and isn’t intended to.

So what will work? Acceptance. Not tolerating. Not enduring. Accepting. Peace is the larger circle of acceptance that we can draw around anything in life that is suffering, agitated, anxious, angry, fearful, unsettled, or unhappy—anything inside or outside. And, acceptance is as simple as saying “Yes.” Actually it can be simpler than that—if yes feels too hard, “Okay” will do. Not “Yes, I agree with this, I condone it, I want it, I choose it,” but “Yes, this is, this is what we’ve got, this is where we must start.” From that “Yes,” the yes of acceptance, peace already is.

In 2006-07, the sacred Muslim month of Ramadan (starting about 9/24/06) coincides with the sacred Jewish month that includes Rosh Hashanah (9/23), Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.  October 1 is Worldwide (Protestant/Orthodox) Communion Sunday. October 2 is Gandhi's birthday. October 4 is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. After 2007, this confluence will not happen again for thirty years.

What a perfect time to celebrate the teachings of peace from all traditions, all cultures. One way we might do that is to sit down, turn the attention inward, feel the breath moving in the body, allow the body to relax into the breath, consider for a few moments all there is to be grateful for, breathe a silent “Thank you,” and follow it with “Yes.” Just that. Just one small moment of acceptance, of presence, of gratitude—of peace. Such a thing can change a life. And it can change the world.

Gasshō,
Cheri

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