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So often it seems that I comment on something of importance to me...and within days, or in this case hours, I will read something that just fits so well. I'm referring of course to yesterdays post about Tyler Clementi, the young man that was cyber bullied to a point that he committed suicide.
This morning early after meditation I picked up a copy of The Shambala Sun and there was an article there by Lin Jensen that so touched where I believe we must come from as a specie. You can read the last three paragraphs of Lin's article below.... or hopefully take a few minutes to read the entire article from the above link.*******
"If we are to survive in any sort of decency, we must set aside our fears and distrust. We must clear a path in our hearts that reaches all the way into the hearts of those whom we would otherwise cast aside.
Sen-ts'an, the third Chinese Ancestor of Zen, taught that "the ultimate way is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing." Seng-ts'an's ultimate way is the way of all beings--human, animal, mineral. On November 4,2008, Californians passed Proposition 8, amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages. Legislating the exclusion of lesbians and gays from society denies the reality of our shared humanity. From the viewpoint of one who has entered the Buddhist path, this sort of selective exclusion simply doesn't make sense. To the Buddhist it is like rejecting the shape of ones own face. If the ultimate way is one of compassionate inclusion and love, then I don't get to pick and choose who gets to love and who doesn't. And since to love is to cherish and nuture life in all its forms, then nowhere in the whole of this wide Earth do I get to say what stays and what goes. Whatever I deny to others, I've already lost to myself. If I walk the path of preference, I will be constantly at pains to rid the world of what ever offends me. If instead I come to realize that our lives and histories are shared, then the whole world is kin and I take my place at the table where the entire Earthly family is invited to dine. No one told to go hungry. No one left outside. "
From "Stand by Me", by Lin Jensen
printed in the November 2010 issue
of Shambala Sun
I think that says so much
And so it goes
My love always, brinda
Namaste
नमस्ते
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