On it's website The Buddhist Peace Fellowship lists Seven Beginning Principles of Buddhist Activism. According to the site those principles are:
What distinguishes Buddhist activism from any other kind of activism?
1. Setting Motivation
Our political actions can be dedicated to the benefit and awakening of all beings. Holding this, the action itself moves beyond mere do-gooding or fighting so-called oppression and into the realm of dharma practice.
2. Interbeing
First, we see alive and present in our own minds the same external structures of greed, hatred, and delusion that we are fighting against. we bow to them. Then we realize there is no "other" to fight against anyway.
3. Not Knowing
Our job as activists is to learn to hold the multiple questions that arise in our work. We don't have to have the answer; we want to be present with whatever is coming up. Maybe we are wrong.
4. Opening to suffering
Through our meditation practice, we learn to be present in the face of suffering. We take this skill out into the world and don't turn away as we face all levels of injustice.
5. Knowing Equanimity
Can we bring equanimity to all of our actions? Can we act without being attached to the result of our actions? Can we recognize the impossible nature of our tasks and act anyway?
6. Being Peace
Beyond ideological differences, there is a place we can, as Buddhist activists, stand together: our commitment to be in ourselves that which we are trying to bring about in the world.
7. Mindfulness in Action
The nondistracted state of mindful awareness must accompany and underlie Buddhist activists in our work to change the world. It is the fundamental nature of our being. There is no separation
-- Excerpted and reworked from "Intersection Point: Buddhist Activism at the WTO" by Diana Winston, Turning Wheel, Spring 2000
I cannot imagine being a Buddhist and not marching in anti-war demonstrations, or taking part in protests and demonstrations against the WTO, or the injustices of genocide. As a Buddhist who believes that every individual is connected to every other person, it is my duty to let the world know that there is another way in which we can solve our disagreements besiders arguing and fighting. I believe that the world awaits those who are committed enough to face suffering with courage and to stand, even in the face of government, community or friends who may disagree with our actions.
It is easy in the context of Buddhism to turn a blind eye to the various protests and causes that are before us and to simply sit on our cushions and meditate. However, the fact is that we live in a material world were pain and suffer are real and where our main concern should be for others more than for ourselves. Anytime we see suffering we should respond the best way we can in order to help the person who is suffering. Sometimes telling the suffering person to sit on a cushion and solve all of their problems will only cause them to think we are dealing with all of our marbles. But, actively supporting causes of justice, nonviolence and peace can be effective.
We can each learn something about what is going on in the world. When we find out about injustice we can write letters to our government officials or to whomever might be willing to listen to us. We can engage in mass actions, including sit-ins, boycotts, demonstrations and workshops.
As Buddhists we are all natural environmentalists. In Thich Nhat Hanh's new book entitled, "The World That We Have" Brother Thay reminds us that we sometimes attach ourselves to the idea of impermanence and use it as a excuse to not become engaged in solving the problems of the world. Thay says that engaging the world is the key to survival for both individuals and the entire world. Stephen Batchelor has written that:
"The ecological crisis we witness today is, from a Buddhist perspective a rather predictable outcome of the kinds of deluded behaviour the Buddha described 2500 years ago. Greed, hatred and stupidity, the three poisons the Buddha spoke of, have now spilled beyond the confines of the human mind and village politics, to poison quite literally the seas, the air and the earth itself. And the fire the Buddha spoke of as metaphorically engulfing the world and its inhabitants in flames is now horribly visible in nuclear explosions and smouldering rainforests, and psychologically apparent in the rampant consumerism of our times." Stephen BatchelorBuddhists could hold protests near sites that promote rampant consumerism rather than just fading it the larger society and becoming a part of the problem by failing to engage our communities, our sangha's, our families, or others to stand against such injustice. Ron Epstein in his article entitled, "A Buddhist Perspective on Animal Rights" says that:
'Unlike the Judeo-Christian tradition, Buddhism affirms the unity of all living beings, all equally posses the Buddha-nature, and all have the potential to become Buddhas, that is, to become fully and perfectly enlightened. Among the sentient, there are no second-class citizens. According to Buddhist teaching, human beings do not have a privileged, special place above and beyond that of the rest of life. The world is not a creation specifically for the benefit and pleasure of human beings. Furthermore, in some circumstances according with their karma, humans can be reborn as humans and animals can be reborn as humans. In Buddhism the most fundamental guideline for conduct is ahimsa-the prohibition against the bringing of harm and/or death to any living being. Why should one refrain from killing? It is because all beings have lives; they love their lives and do not wish to die. Even one of the smallest creatures, the mosquito, when it approaches to bite you, will fly away if you make the slightest motion. Why does it fly away? Because it fears death. It figures that if it drinks your blood, you will take its life. . . . We should nurture compassionate thought. Since we wish to live, we should not kill any other living being. Furthermore, the karma of killing is understood as the root of all suffering and the fundamental cause of sickness and war, and the forces of killing are explicitly identified with the demonic. The highest and most universal ideal of Buddhism is to work unceasingly for permanent end to the suffering of all living beings, not just humans."
Buddhists can do many things that will at least make others aware of the suffering of animals.
More later. Stay enlightened....
