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From: pingali%gaia@cs.umass.edu (Sridhar Pingali)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Buddhists & the Gulf War
Message-ID: <2112@sun13.scri.fsu.edu>
Date: 6 Feb 91 23:40:59 GMT
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This is a response to Jack's questions on nonviolence.

There might be situations in which apparent non-action is
better than direct action. I say "apparent" because, however
invisible they may be, our mind-states have an effect on
the world. I cannot give a direct answer to the questions
that Jack poses - everyone has an individual response.
What I say below may or may not appear to members of this
list as being complacent.

The Buddha spoke of four states of the mind as being Brahma
Viharas (divine abodes). These, as many here are no doubt
aware, are metta (loving kindness), karuna (compassion),
mudita (sympathetic joy) and uppekha (equanimity). There
are formal meditation methods to develop each of these four
qualities of the mind. In the Pali tradition, vipassana
(insight) is combined primarily with metta practice. The
other three are usually considered to be supporting practices.      
They are used to develop that light and joyous state of mind
that is best for the practice of vipassana. (As an aside, 
mudita is actually considered the most difficult of these states
to fully develop. It is the ability to take powerful delight
in the happiness of others).

There are situations in which the most skillful thing we can do 
is to cultivate one of these states. The Buddha described karuna
as being that trembling in the heart in response to suffering.
The formal practice of karuna is to begin by extending 
compassion to oneself and then to slowly expand our net of
compassion until it includes all the beings of the universe.
This is done by the repetition of the phrase "May I/x person/
all females/all males/all animals/all beings be free from
suffering". The near enemy of compassion is pity and the far
enemy is cruelty. Pity looks like compassion but is actually
a reaction based on aversion - it looks at the suffering and
says "this is unbearable". Cruelty is the far enemy because
one cannot feel cruelty and compassion at the same time. Through
the formal practice, one develops the ability to be fully present
and open to a great deal of pain without turning away from it.
And strangely enough, compassion leads to joy. 

This state may or may not impel us to direct action. That would
depend on the situation and the person. This practice may not  
appear as much of a response to war, but it is actually quite a powerful
one. Considerably more skillful than the anger, pride and jingoism
that are the causes for the war.

Sridhar