Reverence for Life

When I saw the news headlines this weekend about another war and a tally that included over a thousand individuals who have been killed, my heart sank. I learned of this event after I had spent a wonderful day with my family and friends enjoying the outdoors, laughter, and food together. 

That evening, I was reading a book by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn in which he wrote, “Life is both wonderful and dreadful.” I underlined the sentence and realized that I had seen how life can be so wonderful and yet so dreadful in one day. I experienced a worry-free day while humans across the globe experienced violence, destruction, and the loss of innocent lives . 

For centuries, many religious and spiritual traditions have been advocates for peace, nonviolence, and have spoken out against senseless acts of violence around the globe. Many traditions speak about liberation and freedom from oppression, violence, and harm. They proclaim there is a Divine nature within each human being. 

At the same time, however, other religious traditions throughout time have misused their religion as a means to advocate for violence. Some have misused religion to justify oppression, harm, and negating the Divine nature within each human being. 

Oftentimes, our spiritual and religious traditions can be both wonderful and dreadful. 

In the Buddhist tradition, the Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global and spiritual ethic. The first mindfulness training, reverence for life, reads, 

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachments to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

The events of this past week have shown the ugly and awful “suffering caused by the destruction of life” and have forced me to reflect on how I can “transform violence…in myself and in the world.”

I think this includes lamenting, praying for peace, committing to peacemaking, liberation, and non-violence, acting with compassion, and honoring the Divine light that is within every human being. 

My hope is that you might be able to find a moment today to do the same, honoring that life can be both wonderful and dreadful, while trusting you have a part to play in advocating for peace, non-violence, and reverence for life.