impermanence and the news

Flowers decompose, but knowing this does not prevent us from loving flowers. In fact, we are able to love the flowers more because we know to treasure them while they are alive. Thich Nhat Han

I’ve worked at daily newspapers for most of my career. There’s probably no better job for training in Buddhist principles: Every day, we gather people’s perceptions of events – sometimes we call them “facts;” most times we admit that everyone’s perception is a little bit different – we look for the places where they overlap and report those as truth, and where they disagree, we try to balance the presentation. We inquire constantly: How do we know this is true? Who is saying it? What is their view? We assemble perspectives, which combine to form stories, which then fill pages, and the pages make a newspaper. Conditions come together, the pages get printed, put on trucks, into the hands of the middle school kids who still deliver it, and then into the bushes or the box or the front porch. The reader looks at it, notes a few things, maybe mentions something that resonates to someone else, and the newspaper goes into the recycling bin or under the catbox or into a pile. (See Thich Nhat Han for more on how the world is contained in a piece of paper.)

right effort

“It’s OK if it’s impossible; it’s OK! Now I’m going to speak to you as
organizers. Listen carefully. The object is not to win. That’s not the
objective. The object is to do the right and good thing. If you decide
not to do anything, because it’s too hard or too impossible, then
nothing will be done, and when you’re on your death bed,... you’re gonna
say, “I wish I had done something." But if you go and do the right thing
NOW, and you do it long enough, “good things will happen — something’s
gonna happen.” -- Bill Moyers

did hitler have buddhanture?

inevitably, in every buddhist class I've ever been in where buddhanature, or basic goodness is discussed. someone will ask whether hitler had it.
my feeling is that, yes, he did. but it was buried under miles of muck.
the mind-only schools say that if you can prove any aspect of a belief is untrue, that proves it is untrue as a general principal.
was hitler eveil? hell, yes.
did he have buddhanature? well, he liked bread and marmalade and was "mild-mannered." so my belief is that under unmeasurable tons of hatred and aggression, he did.

LONDON (AP) — Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler liked to have bread and marmalade for breakfast and was described as mild-mannered during personal exchanges, according to newly released documents.
Britain’s National Archives on Friday made public a previously classified account of Hitler provided by a 19-year-old Austrian deserter, who described the dictator as paranoid about being watched by others and short-tempered during meetings.
“He is mild on personal contact but apt to bang tables and shout during conferences,” according to the account given by a prisoner of war identified as SS Schuetze Obernigg. He was said to have been at Hitler’s retreat in Obersalzberg in the Bavarian Alps in 1943 and 1944.
Obernigg provided British intelligence officers with a detailed description of Hitler’s daily routine at the retreat. Hitler was said to favor waking up about 10 a.m., breakfasted on coffee, bread, and marmalade shortly afterward, and received visitors including his doctor in the afternoon. The accounts show he apparently worked until late in the night and went to sleep as late as 4 a.m.
The deserter also described Hitler’s attitude toward his personal guards.
“Hitler cannot bear to feel himself watched ... guards were instructed to keep him in sight but to remain unobserved themselves,” said Obernigg, according to the files.
A separate set of files also released by the National Archive on Friday showed that Allied forces were deeply concerned about the possible existence of a secret Nazi hideout in the Austrian Alps where Hitler would make a “last desperate stand” after the end of World War II.
Intelligence reports from around 1944 to 1945 suggested that the so-called “Nazi National Redoubt” could hold enough food and weapons in underground caves for up to 60,000 “Nazi fanatics” for two years, according to files made public by Britain’s National Archive.
The files contained detailed reports of the training and movement of troops as well as fuel and food in the Alpine area between western Austria and upper Bavaria. An intelligence summary described the mountain base as a place “in which the elite of National Germany will make a last desperate stand.”
The documents suggest that the Allies were convinced about the Nazi mountain refuge — although historians say the base turned out to be a myth.
“There was every indication the Nazi regime would fight until the last man,” said Mark Dunton, a contemporary history specialist at the National Archive.
“(The Allies) were sort of piecing together various observations about the movements of foodstuffs into this area, and a movement of weapons and gasoline, and they kind of ... put two and two together to make five,” he said.

lessons in impermanence

Henry Dang, 15, killed on his bike
By Harlan Levy
Journal Inquirer
WINDSOR LOCKS — A long line of around 400 sad and tearful students and friends came to Windsor Locks Congregational Church on Sunday afternoon to mourn the death of Henry Dang, 15, who was killed riding his bicycle early Saturday morning.
The simple facts of the case, which starkly belie the depth of emotions Henry Dang’s death aroused in the community, are these: It was closing in on midnight Friday when the high school sophomore got on his bike and left a friend’s house, heading home. A few blocks away, at the corner of Spring and West streets, he collided with motorist Michael Koistinen, an off-duty police officer, who was traveling west on Spring Street.
Both were injured. Dang was taken by ambulance to Hartford Hospital, where he died. An ambulance took Koistinen to Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford, where he was treated and released.
No further details were available today. The North Central Municipal Accident Reconstruction Squad is investigating.
Koistinen, 24, joined the Windsor Locks Police Department in February 2009. He was scheduled to work today. Police Chief John Suchocki said today he doesn’t know when Koistinen will return to work.
“I was just getting up to visit a college in Massachusetts, and then I got the call,” said senior Ellary Douglas, 17, “and at first I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke. Then I heard more, and I saw Facebook, and it was on Facebook, and then it hit me that he was gone. It was very emotional.”
Junior Maria Brown, 16, awoke early Saturday morning. “I got up early to go to the gym to practice for basketball when I got a call from one of Henry’s close friends,” she said. “I didn’t believe it. I don’t think anyone who got the call believed it — him, out of every kid in this town, all the kids that do drugs, all the kids that are bad kids. Henry was the best kid in this town. I’m still in shock.”
“Early Saturday morning my son’s girlfriend came over sobbing to tell us what happened,” said Henry’s church youth group leader Colleen Conroy. “It’s devastating. He was just too young.”
“It’s just tragic,” Pastor Kevin Flannery said.
On Sunday there were two events at the church, a regular morning service followed by a memorial service at 1 p.m. to pay respects to Dang and offer comfort to his mother and two older brothers and sister. Seeing the number of mourners coming to the morning service, Flannery changed his sermon topic, which had been stewardship.
“We decided to do one that touched on grief so that the kids could actually walk through some of the stuff that they’re feeling,” he said. That includes his daughter.
“My daughter’s the same age and was friends with Henry. It just rips my heart out. We’re just so sad.”
Flannery’s sermon ended with “focusing on the reality that none of us knows how long we are here.”
Well before 1, a throng of mourners began making its way to the church on Main Street. Each signed in and slowly filled the pews. Many of Henry’s classmates spoke about him at an open microphone, and a slide show prompted tears for a valued life cut short.
“Henry pretty much was the life of the school,” Ellary Douglas said. “He brought every single person together, even if they didn’t like each other.”
Saturday night, Douglas said, Henry’s high school friends gathered in a basement to remember him. “We just hung out together, and there was a bunch of people you would never think were friends or who talked to each other,” she said. “We were just together, talking about Henry, reminiscing about Henry, crying, laughing, everything. It just brought everyone together.”
Students also scheduled a vigil for 7 this morning outside the high school to honor Henry.
Henry Dang’s friends described him as active and energetic, with an outstanding personality. He was involved in basketball and track, his church youth group and his friends.
”He had a smile that lit up the room,” said youth pastor Brian Sullivan, who knew Henry for the last 2½ years in church and on the basketball court. “He was excited about life. He was very genuine and very respectful. He’s going to be really missed.”
Youth group leader Conroy praised Henry as “just a great kid. Everybody loved him. He was always happy, always smiling, always there to talk to anyone who was hurting. He’d be the first one, even if he didn’t know them, to go up and ask them if he could do anything to help. Just a sweetheart.”
“He was very caring,” Mariah Brown said. “He loved everyone. Everyone who he talked to was his friend.”
Like Sunday’s sermon, Conroy said, “You can’t take the people you love for granted because there’s no guarantee how long they’ll be here.”

How soon should this body be a corpse?

Society has a duty to protect people from being harmed, but has no right to exact revenge. Whether it is murder or legal execution, any killing is simply wrong. Neutralizing and preventing harm does not require vengeance and retaliation.

Matthieu Ricard on forgiveness

Robert Chender, who’s co-teaching the Intro to Buddhism class, suggested this week that we check out a video on the Huffington Post of Mathieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk with a delightful French accent, talking about forgiveness.

The comment above struck me. I work at a newspaper in Connecticut, and aside from the election, the biggest story in the state is the trial of Steven Hayes, one of two men charged in the horrific torture and murder of a woman and her two daughters. (The husband and father was beaten and tied up in the basement but escaped). Hayes never denied taking part, but prosecutors wouldn’t agree to life in prison – in large part because the survivor is determined that Hayes and his co-defendant should be put to death by the state. A jury convicted Hayes after a trial that detailed the unbearably awful things that happened. The same jury now is considering whether to sentence him to death. Under Connecticut law, jurors considering the death penalty weigh mitigating and aggravating factors.

Just as an individual can fall prey to hatred, so can a whole society. MR

In a recent poll, 76 percent of Connecticut residents say they support the death penalty for Hayes – 10 percentage points more than support the death penalty itself.

A human being is not basically bad, but can easily become so. Our real enemy is therefore not the person who has fallen prey to hatred but hatred itself. MR

If hatred is the enemy, then what about those who are doing the hating? People I consider reasonable and compassionate see no gray here – he should died for what he did. Carrying out the death penalty in Connecticut takes a long time; there are mandatory appeals built into the process. If he wants to die, maybe keeping him alive is a worse punishment.

From a Buddhist point of view, the basic goodness of a human being remains deep within, even if he or she deviates into a very malevolent person. The simile given is that of a piece of gold that remains unchanged even when buried in filth. There is always a possibility of cleansing the filth. This does not amount to ignoring the base quality of the filth but to knowing that it can be removed and that the gold within it can shine again.

Hayes wants to die. He didn’t want his public defenders to argue against the death penalty. He’s tried to commit suicide. He became ill with what his lawyer described as seizures the day crime scene photos were shown in court. Does that show remorse? Is that evidence that he’s changed?

On Friday, the front-page headline on the trial story said: Show Me Your Soul is Worth Saving.

It referred to a letter Hayes’ brother had written in April after Steven Hayes tried to kill himself in prison with an overdose of prescription drugs. "If you don't want to cause us pain, allow what has to unfold without hindrance," his brother wrote, adding that he had "no respect" for Steven's self-professed wish to die.

"The process in front of you and the ensuing punishment is where you will find redemption, nowhere else," the brother wrote. "I have been told that every soul is worth saving, no matter what the actions. Show me your soul is worth saving, and I'll do what I have the capacities to do."

How does one show that one’s soul is worth saving?

I believe that every sentient being is worth saving, that every person is basically good. But is this true when their actions are so bad?

I may be almost alone in not wanting to flip the switch on Steven Hayes. I don’t approve, accept, or understand what he did. But I believe that somewhere inside the shriveled sad man who sits in court, there is a basic goodness that got buried so deep he can’t find it. I wouldn’t expect him to act from that place, but I can’t find it in my heart to want him dead. I don’t think it will bring the peace his victims’ family seeks. Hatred only breeds hatred. His death won’t diminish their pain.

In short, contemplating the horror of other's crimes should enhance in one's own mind a boundless love and compassion for all beings, rather than hatred of a few. MR

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthieu-ricard/forgiveness-video_b_774430.html?ref=fb&src=sp