Rev. Danny Fisher

Today’s quote is from Claude AnShin Thomas, an ordained Zen Buddhist monk; author of At Hell’s Gate:  A Soldier’s Journey from War to Peace; and founder of the Zaltho Foundation, a non-profit “whose purpose is to promote peace and nonviolence in and among individuals, families, societies, and countries supporting all efforts to attain this goal through whatever peaceful and nonviolent means available.”  This is it:

The moment I see someone or something as separate from myself, this is war.  These are the seeds and the roots of war.  The moment I see myself as separate from the universe,  this is war. There rests our suffering.  It is impossible to commit acts of aggression unless I see myself as separate.  I am conditioned to see the other as separate. These are the seeds of suffering.  When they are dropping bombs I can understand.  And it makes me commit myself even more strongly to this practice to wake up.  But I ask you to do me a favor: if you wake up before me, please help me on my way.

Robes don’t make a monk.  They don’t make me different.  They just symbolize my commitment.  They help me to remember: What is my purpose here ?

In the official years of the Vietnam War 58,000 American soldiers died in combat, several 100,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in combat. They say, maybe a million North Vietnamese soldiers and North and South Vietnamese civilians died in combat.  War does not begin with a declaration and ends with an armistice.  War never ends until we get it here (points to his chest ).  The non-soldier is more responsible for the war than the soldier. And that is not to say that I am not responsible.  How many people died in Russia during the rule of Stalin?  How many people died in Cambodia under the rule of Pol Pot ?  How many people died in the fighting of the former Yugoslavia ?  How many people died in Northern Ireland ?  I am responsible to not let their lives be wasted.  They died to let us know that this is not the way.  Violence is not a solution.

Where is the war in you ?  That’s what we use this practice for: to help us to wake up.  To understand that we are not separate.  When we look at people: Can we find the place where we touch ?