What would the Buddha do? No one can really say for
sure, any more than anyone can say in truth why God sent death
to 6,000 innocent people last week at the hands of a terrorist
attack. (I personally consider it the handiwork of man, not
God, and that we might do well to look amongst and within
ourselves for the causes.)
However, I am sure that the Compassionate Buddha would stop
for a prolonged moment of mindfulness and total
attention—-silent, centered, and present--to pray for all
those who have suffered and are suffering, feeling their pain
and grief as his own. Buddha would stop and pray for the
victims and their families, and all worldwide who suffer and
have suffered; he would join Jesus in blessing the
peacemakers, while also praying for those who have perpetrated
such horrendous crimes.
What would Buddha do? Buddha would move among the
wounded, grief-stricken, and despairing, with gentle healing
hands. Buddha might remind us of the fleeting, ephemeral
nature of life in all its forms, and that we might profit by
turning toward lasting values and the deeper meaning of life
so as to help instill in us a sense of the long-range view and
the bigger picture.
We condemn wanton acts of violence and destruction. The
criminal perpetrators and their aides and abettors must be
brought to justice, and terrorism erased from our world as an
acceptable form of political or social action in any country
of the world.
However, I feel quite sure that we should not rush into
vengeful retaliatory acts, which will make us into the mirror
image of those who have attacked us and could bring more
problems rather than provide lasting solutions. The
Enlightened One would no doubt advocate restraint, reason,
compassion, and understanding in the face of violence and
aggression.
What would Buddha do? Buddhism would teach that the enemy
and those who harm us can be our best teacher. We can actually
benefit now and in the long run by learning to generate
sincere feelings of compassion for the perpetrators’ negative
actions and bad karma. Buddhist wisdom consistently reminds us
to recognize how interconnected we all are in this small
world, while emphasizing the universal spiritual verity that
hatred does not cease through hatred but by through love
alone, for lovingkindness and compassion are greater than
hatred, greater than death. Twenty-five hundred years ago the
Buddha himself said: "Hatred is never appeased by hatred in
this world; by love alone is hatred appeased. This is an
Eternal Law." (The Dhammapada,Verse 5).
