Daisaku Ikeda wrote this some time ago, and it’s just popped up in my mail for me to share. Originally it is from his book “The New Human Revolution” but he’s also similarly described HEALTH in later small discussions on various aspects of the Lotus Sutra. Here’s how it goes:
What Is Health?
“Health is not simply the absence of illness. Nor is it simply physical well being. Genuine health is the state in which both body and mind are vigorously and soundly engaged in the process of creation. Real health is the ability to overcome every form of adversity and use even the worst of circumstances as a springboard for new growth and development.
“Simply put, the essence of health is the constant renewal and rejuvenation of life. The fundamental entity that makes this renewal of life possible can be perceived within us as the world of Buddhahood, or the life-state of the Buddha. And I believe that Buddhism, which opens the way to this renewal of life in the real world, teaches the way to keep health at the most fundamental level.”
Exploring the Simultaneous Nature of Cause & Effect Star Trek: The Next Generation: Finale, Episode - “All Good Things…” I’ve just watched the double episode finale to the TNG Picard series just after the cyclists finished their ascent of Mont Ventoux in this years Tour de France. It was “All Good Things…”(see link, link &...
After this day of action I’ve been taking against the naffness and sheer greed in the world, I’d like to share some words of wisdom and encouragement that I’ve just received before I retire for the day: The strength of our life force manifests itself in our voices. Let’s therefore use our courageous voices for...
Megrahi: only person convicted over the Lockerbie bombing
Megrahi is a Libyan, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 270 people by blowing up a 747 over Lockerbie in Scotland – but released early after 8 years (but 10 years in prison) and sent to Libya to die of cancer.
William Calley - convicted American war criminal
Calley is an American, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on 22 sample charges of murdering over 500 people by shooting, beatings, torture, mutilation and sexual abuse in Vietnam – but released early after 3 years and has so far lived quietly for over 35 years.
Further similarities and differences exist.
1988: wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 in a field in Lockerbie, Scotland.
Megrahi has always said he was innocent and was convicted on one piece of clothing evidence and the say-so of a disgruntled acquaintance in Malta.
Moammar Gadhafi - Libyan Dictator
It’s been suggested that people at the highest level in Libya organised the plane bombing. Gadhafi has always remained aloof, grunted and ambiguously farted.
The evidence could have easily have been tampered with as it remained for many months in disputed, easily corruptible circumstances.
My Lai massacre
Lt Calley admitted the murders but always claimed he was acting under orders. This higher command, Ernest Medina, has always disputed this. Medina too, was tried. His trial lasted 60 mins and he was acquitted of all charges. Nevertheless, this ‘innocent’ man’s career was over.
Current Status
When Calley was released by the soon-to-be-disgraced Republican President Nixon, many in the US and elsewhere were outraged and shocked. Calley was hidden from view and eventually forgotten about, except for his recent admission that he’s ‘sorry every day’ – see news link.
Along with a whole charade of political shenanigans including the notable damning silence from prime Minister Brown, Megrahi has been released to Libyan custody who immediately paraded him as a Terry Waite-like hero. The custody thing is a blur. He will die soon. Megrahi’s public statement on his release bears detailed reading. If he is telling the truth, his words are those of a patient, honourable man, restraining himself against the unjust forces of the world.
He bears no ill-will to the Scottish people, medical and prison staff.
For the victims’ relatives of the bombing, he expresses sincere sympathy.
For his trial, he expresses disillusionment at the failings of a supposedly fair system. I’ve studied his face in Amsterdam and elsewhere. This is genuine.
Now these are his actual words:
I cannot find words in my language or yours that give proper expression to the desolation I have felt. This horrible ordeal is not ended by my return to Libya.
It may never end for me until I die. Perhaps the only liberation for me will be death.
And I say in the clearest possible terms, which I hope every person in every land will hear: all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do.
The remaining days of my life are being lived under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction.
He finishes by saying,
I say goodbye to Scotland and shall not return. My time here has been very unhappy and I do not leave a piece of myself. But to the country’s people I offer my gratitude and best wishes.
Conclusion
These are not the words of a lying man. He is a disillusioned patsy, a fall-guy for bigger forces. This is the likely reason for his release. It’s as if there’s an un-written code that everyone knows but dare not admit – but it must be enacted to equalise the communal guilt of an informed nation that suspects a gross injustice.
V for Vendetta
Gadhafi, on the other hand, is laughing up his sleeve. And the rabid right in the USA just use his release as fuel for their strident cries for battle. The real power in the USA just sit tight, saving that fuel for another day, when another mass of innocents are mown down for profit in the hills of Pakistan.
Calley, exams failure of the US schools system, is right to think on his actions every day, and to think how truly lucky he is to be alive. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, ha ha.
Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, aged 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, is a member of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, from Fort Richardson, Alaska. He was captured in circumstances that aren’t clear and has appeared in a Taliban video (prev at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-soldier20-2009jul20,0,4913063.story), seen world-wide. So far, it appears...
In the above video, shot with a mobile phone and first reported at the beginning of April this year, some blokes, watched by a load of other blokes, whip a young woman for breaking some law. At that time, the Taliban blokes (for it is them) had just come to an agreement with the Pakistan...
Afghan Soldier Captured: Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho
of Ketchum, Idaho, is a member of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, from Fort Richardson, Alaska. He was captured in circumstances that aren’t clear and has appeared in a Taliban video (prev at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-soldier20-2009jul20,0,4913063.story), seen world-wide.
So far, it appears he’s been well treated, although three soldiers captured in Iraq by the same mob were all killed, so this must obviously prey on people’s minds.
What I’d like to know, given that in a recent poll, over 50% of Americans think torture is okay, is he one of the 50%? Are his parents? Is his battalion commander? Is US Military spokesman, Capt Jon Stock? Is Navy Lt. Robert Carr, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan?
“The Taliban are using the soldier for propaganda purposes”
Illegal Imprisonment and Adherence to International Law
Now some facts.
The USA continues to imprison people in Guantanamo Bay without trial or due process.
The site in Cuba was obtained illegally and is operated illegally even under the ‘rules’, agreed under duress, of it’s illegal occupation.
The USA (& UK) has recently tortured people in strict denial of the rules of the Geneva Convention, their own laws and/or constitutions, and the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
Sad Chickens Roosting
Grim Reaper
So while people wring their hands over a very short list of very likely fates for Pte Bergdahl, it’s only karmic retribution for their historical and continuing acts. They must change, as Obama was wont to say in his electoral campaign.
I say;
They cannot continue to act in this way, killing people with scythe-like impunity using robotic planes in some bizarre kids computer shoot-up.
They cannot continue to act towards people in flagrant disregard of their own constitution and laws.
They cannot even think that torture, of any kind, is okay. Not just “don’t do it” – No! They must not even think it.
Because what happens is that it’s all thrown back, tenfold.
Justice
A Beacon
Like Justice, being “seen to be done”, US actions, at home and abroad must be above reproach.
They must be a beacon – a pure demonstration of good civil behaviour, in words, thoughts and deeds. The beacon light though, is very dim.
Eagle Peak
Something like this was said by Shakyamuni – the Buddha of legend. In Chapter 16 of “The Lotus Sutra”, a compendium of his later sayings, he said, in qualifying what it takes to be a Buddha (which anyone can be, let it be known):
When living beings become truly faithful, honest and upright, gentle in intent, single-mindedly desiring to see the Buddha, not hesitating even if it costs them their own lives, then I and the assembly of monks appear together at Eagle Peak.
Eagle Peak represents a place of happiness for all sentient beings. It means that if you behave like that, happiness will undoubtedly appear – you will be a Buddha.
If you don’t, then shit happens.
The USA & UK are most definitely NOT “honest and upright, gentle in intent”, and the shit is happening.
Of course, the Taliban and all misogynist, small-minded folk like that are the absolute pits. And yes, shit is happening for them as well! It’s not all hunky-dory by a long chalk.
The point is, that we (meaning the USA & UK) do not have to act like them. The surest way to prove the justness of your cause is to behave properly. In short,
Don’t bomb haphazardly killing all in sight with a lame excuse.
Don’t torture
Don’t disregard your own laws and international laws of behaviour
In the above video, shot with a mobile phone and first reported at the beginning of April this year, some blokes, watched by a load of other blokes, whip a young woman for breaking some law. At that time, the Taliban blokes (for it is them) had just come to an agreement with the Pakistan...
I’ve been thinking about the perilous mentality of the 52% of Americans who think torture is all fine and dandy. And then I saw a neat little video piece on the BBC this morning which casts a few French people in the exact same spots in June 1944 and now. It’s here: D-Day in France:...
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