Bertrand Russell was a British Philosopher and proponent of peace. He spoke many times and was a prolific writer on the subject of social reform and anti nuclear proliferation. He was an outspoken opponent of the US Government.

Just a few Facts as we begin:

3,777 US war dead as of Sept 2007, 119 Great Britain war dead as of Sept 2007, 118 other countries war dead as of Sept 2007, with over 27,848 injuries sustained by Sept 2007.

Reported and published by the Brookings Institute on October 12, 2007: that approximately 655,000 people have died in Iraq as a result of the unprecedented invasion by the US and its allies in 2003.

The US and UK governments have both said the chaotic situation in Iraq makes it impossible to gather such information accurately, but do not deny the claim.

It is unfathomable for us to grasp the meaning behind these statistics. Our minds are unable to embrace the idea that nearly 660,000 people have lost their lives due to aggression and fear.

“Aggression and fear are weapons of mass destruction.” – BK

I would like to relate a little known story of violence vs. non-violence found in history in 402 AD. In ancient Rome the gladiator fights had been a part of the Roman life for over 7 centuries. We can imagine that Romans thought there would always be gladiator fights much like people today believe we will always have war.

Many Romans objected to the fights, leading to Emperor Honorius to close the gladiator schools. The fights however continued. By this time Rome had adopted Christianity as the formal religion.

A small Monk named Telemachus lived just outside Rome and was known to many as a very holy man. We can only assume that he may have prayed for an end to the killings and asked for a way to bring about that goal.

He took this opportunity to face his fear. We know that he walked into the gladiator ring and spoke about joy and love to the men who were about to fight. Telling them, ‘men were not born to fight but to love’, telling them they were ‘born to love’, he placed himself in peril. The crowd as you can imagine became furious. They began throwing things at the monk and shouting, wanting blood.

More than likely a guard pushed him away. However, he continued, saying these men who were slaves and trained to fight in the ring of death, were men like us all, ‘born to love’ and ‘not born to kill’. The spectators were riotous. “What right does this little monk have to stop the spectacle?”

According to history there are a few different accounts as to what happened next. In one account a soldier gave an order, a sword flashed and the monk lay dead; in another version the people stoned him.

What we know for certain is the monk Telemachus was killed that day. I can only imagine that after some time the crowd may have gone silent. Surely they must have wondered, “what just happened?” In front of their eyes a holy man lay dead in his own blood.

His message that all life was sacred and needed to be honored was slain with him.

Days like today and days out of history like those for Telemachus should inspire us. Individual acts of peace are often forgotten or may not be noticed at all. We should never abrogate our quest for peace to another, nor allow a chance for peace to slip through our fingers. Our duty to ourselves and others is to constantly ring the bell for every person in every land until peace exits without exception for each of us.

Peace is not a place or space in which we can bask in golden rays of tranquility. Peace is a mindset. It takes real effort and belief to bring about peace. Hatred is fueled by hatred. Peace is made long standing by acts of peace and a belief in peace.

There are many opportunities for us to judge a situation or person or event. The danger in judging is that judging anything, person, place or event allows you to categorize and label the object of your judgment. When you label you will assign good or bad, positive or negative condition to it. This activity is, in itself prejudicial. It is impossible to bring about inner peace when you have events, places and people categorized into happenings you will not attend, places you will not visit and people you wish to have nothing to do with.

Inner peace comes from the belief in the process of peace. Peace must first exist in our interior universe before we can imagine it in the exterior universe we live in. If we treat each other, without exception, with equanimity we are on the path to experiencing inner joy and peaceful co-existence.

Often we are asked to look at a glass as being half empty or half full.

What would happen if we do not apply a value to the contents? We would see the glass for what it is, simply a glass.

We must learn to observe. Pure observation is being able to watch any situation and not apply any need to classify, or attach positive or negatives, no measure of good or bad, and no right or wrong. It does not mean that these things do not exist. It means that observation is not the means used to affix them.

The attitude by which we view our world requires a subtle understanding of the social-economic, spiritual and political aspects and the forces that propel us into the present. It is unwise to look at any situation as black and white. We must also be mindful what has worked for us in the past and what has not. If we do not learn from the processes we have employed in the past we can effect no positive change to the present.

Our current political framework takes a simplistic view of good vs. evil, using terms like freedom vs. terror, traditional values vs. frightening realities. Rather than a simplistic black and white view, we need a pure and clear understanding of our of our world political climate, based on an honest reflection of the experience of the day.

There have to be more choices. Our response to situations we find ourselves in must be based on pure observation. The same positive and loving kindness standards we apply for our own actions must be applied to the actions of others, whether they be individuals or collective groups. We must not respond to aggression with aggression. “The fire of hatred is fueled by more hatred not quenched by it.”

Intellectually we know that uncertainty and fear created by an action can be frightening. We know we feel anxiety and frustration. But many times the anxiety we experience is created by our own lack of understanding.

In this instance, instead of looking for a source of blame we should be compelled to observe the events leading up to the action that is causing anxiety and frustration.

We do not need to place blame. We do not need to use fear nor respond with aggression. Fear and aggression while being primal are an impediment to rational thought and understanding brought forward by the process of pure observation.

Peace is a process by which we reconcile ourselves to the ideal that each of us without exception is sacred.

There is no person regardless of any means of measurement who has a value which is more or less than any other person. Life, all life, is sacred.

“We must develop a hunger for peace.” We must believe, like Telemachus, in the goodness of all people and that we are born to love and nurture. We must have faith in peace. We can only imagine that day in Rome some sixteen centuries ago. That when the dust settled, everyone had become quiet. I wonder what would be on our minds if we were in the same situation. We can be encouraged by individual acts of belief and faith in peace.

Our generation can make a difference much like Telemachus. We can take some of the needed steps to bring about the end of hostilities toward each other. There were no more gladiator fights ever held again after that day.

We can, by being a positive force in the universe, bring about a change for the better. We must believe that war and aggression are not human characteristics but are responses based in ignorance. We must develop a hunger for peace. We must have faith in peace.

It must develop like a seed within us. Our thoughts and daily actions must reflect our commitment to the ideals of peace.

Only then will we see peace as an alternative to fear and aggression.

“Fear and aggression are weapons of mass destruction.” We must never allow them be used in our name and against anyone for any reason. Individual acts of peace are often unheeded and ignored. There have been many people, Telemachus, Gandhi, Kennedy, King, and Mandela who have offered us a glimpse of faith in peace. Events like today’s forum should inspire us to move forward.

In years to come succeeding generations will look at us in the same way we look at those before us. How do we respond to the young people of tomorrow? We can be a people of peace. It is not enough to offer criticism without an offer of remedy.

We are the remedy, we can believe in the values of a peaceful people. It starts inside of us. Your mind can tell you that the values of peace are not only valuable but necessary. But you must feel the value of peace in your heart.

In all my talks at the temple and wherever I speak I always end my talk by offering a wish of peace.

Today is no different. As we spend the day in thought and reflection on the values of peace and a world without aggression, be mindful of the feelings that rise inside you. Become the vehicle for peace in your own life. Extend your peace and energy to all around you.

I ask you to simply believe, to have faith in your self, not to a power or ideal outside yourself, but to believe in your own power to bring about peace.

People may look at you, what you stand for, what you dream of, your interest in all living beings, and a world of peace and ask what sense does it make, what difference can you make.

The fact that you think about peace helps to bring it about. What you can think of in your mind your actions will help create. Others will watch and see and gain insight from your efforts, so never give up. Others may come to see their own faults and begin to let go. In so doing your faith in the peace process grows.

So let peace exist in a small way inside of you. Let peace exist in your mind. Let your mind, through your thoughts and intentions, create a better space for peace to grow and blossom like a lotus in your heart.

Let your actions speak convincingly of your determination to live a peaceful life, believe in your firmness of purpose and expect good things to flow from you.

Believe in the goodness that can be in all beings. But mostly, accept as true it exists in you. Peace and tranquility exist first as thoughts, then understandings, words and finally action. Others may not be able to read your thoughts or understand your thinking, and may not fully comprehend your words, but they will recognize your actions. Have courage to be the action. Have courage to be the vehicle of peace. Let us all begin anew, begin fresh, and begin each of our days with a simple prayer.

“There is going to be a time of peace,
so let it begin today with me.”

I Wish You Peace,

Bhante Kassapa

Bhante n. Kassapa Bhikkhu
bhante_kassapa@yahoo.com
Buu Mon Temple
Port Arthur, Texas, 77640
409.982.9319

United Nations International Peace Day, October 22, 2007
Keynote Address at the Peace and Faith Exploration Workshop
Sponsored by Southeast Texans for Peace, Beaumont, TX.

Marcus Tullius Cicero January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and philosopher. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome’s greatest orators and prose stylists.

Cicero is generally seen as one of the most versatile minds of Roman culture and his writing the paragon of Classical Latin. He introduced the Romans to the chief schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocabulary. An impressive orator and successful lawyer, Cicero likely thought his political career his most important achievement. However, today he is appreciated primarily for his humanism and philosophical and political writings.

That the Latin terms Re (Latin meaning, “divine reading”) and Lego, Latin meaning “truth or true” and held that the terms meant the repetition of prayers and incantations. It is easy to see the connection between what we call religion today and the early attempts to clarify and give a clear understanding of the word religion. Over a period of time the word religion has been defined as a system or systems of faith and worship, owing its allegiance to a supernatural being(s) or god(s).

This is important to remember. Religion as we know it or can define is a system of faith. It is a belief in a power or powers, god or gods outside the self, and that the practice of religion is the faith in these beings through the adoration or worship of these entities. A belief in the supernatural being with powers beyond the scope of humans is common component of modern day religion. Buddhism does not demand a system of faith from its followers. The idea of belief is substituted with a ‘confidence based on knowledge and experience.’

The confidence of a lay follower in Buddhism is that of a patient to a noted physician or more like a student revering a very gifted professor. Followers do seek “refuge in the Buddha,” but as an incomparable guide and teacher who is able to instruct them on the Path of Purity. The followers of Buddhism make no servile surrender to the Buddha. Buddhist do not think that they may attain enlightenment or purity by seeking refuge in the Buddha or by having a ‘faith’ in Him. It is not within the scope of any human being to wash away the impurities of others. The Buddha was a human being. Per our teachings no one can purify or defile another. The Buddha as a teacher may be instrumental, but the responsibility of purification is ours. The Buddhist holy book or bible is called the Dhammapada.

In the Dhammapada Buddha writes:

“By oneself alone is evil done;
by oneself is one defiled.
By oneself alone is evil avoided:
By oneself alone is one purified.
Purity and impurity depend on oneself.
No one can purify another.” V-145.

A Buddhist follower is not a slave to a book or to any individual. Nor does he sacrifice his freedom to become a follower of Buddhism. There is abrogation of self or free will. The Buddhist practitioner is fully at liberty to exercise their freedom of thought and to develop the knowledge needed to attain Buddha hood for themselves. Followers quote the Buddha as an authority as you might quote your professor. But the Buddha’s instructions were to seek truth through the experience of seeking.

Individual realization is the sole truth in Buddhism. You do not accept anything on merely the say so, or authority from anyone else. Rather, you exercise your own powers of reasoning and judge for yourselves whether something is true for you or not.

Is then Buddhism a philosophy? The Dhamma, as the body of teachings are called, deals with the truths and facts that can be tested and verified by personal experience. Buddhism is not really concerned with theories and speculations which often become accepted as being profound truths of today and not accepted 10 years from now. For the Buddha his thoughts were a guide to live a wholesome life, not a revolutionary philosophy full of theories and conclusions. In very plain terms he explained both what is within and what is without as it pertains to freeing the self from the ills of life and dealing with the suffering that come to each of us.

Buddhism cannot be called in the purest sense a philosophy. It is not the ‘love of’ inducing the search for a wisdom or a hypothetical interpretation of the unknown as in metaphysics. Buddhism seeks to teach a framework for people to live. Philosophy deals normally with the knowledge of things but not the practice. Whereas Buddhist teachings have heavy emphases on practices and realizations.

One of the most import elements of Buddhist teachings is the recognition that each of us has the potential of realizing goodness in our life. We know when something is immoral or unwholesome and that with this knowledge we disregard the action that would bring about pain or suffering due to the immoral or unwholesome action.

In other words if we know it to be an action that brings harm or suffering to self or others that the action should be abandoned. We would call this a conscience. But more than that it is knowledge of what is right and wrong. The Buddha had very few rules for followers. The rules of life are more a moral code to understand and form a mindset for living.

They are:

Abstain from taking life.
Abstain from anything that in not freely given to you.
Abstain from unchaste conduct.
Abstain from false or hurtful speech.
Abstain from using intoxicants that lead to carelessness.

In these rules we can see a basic respect for self and other living things developing. As we accept responsibility for ourselves and others it easier to understand why we should develop a respect for other peoples possessions. One of the easiest ways to cause harm and hurt someone is by false speech. Carelessness through drugs or alcohol can and often does have a heavy cost.

The basic theory of Buddhism holds these four tenets:

All life is suffering;
The cause for suffering is attachment and craving;
Cessation of craving and attachment
eradicates the existence of suffering;
Developing right understanding and following
the Noble Eightfold path is the way to learn that cessation;

The Noble Eightfold Path has the following components:

1. Right Understanding.
2. Right Thoughts.
3. Right Speech.
4. Right Actions.
5. Right Livelihood.
6. Right Effort.
7. Right Mindfulness.
8. Right Concentration.

Basically however Buddhism is a practice of Metta. Metta is a Pali word meaning simply Love. Buddhism is the practice of attaining knowledge of the self. Learning to love yourself.

Only through self knowledge can we come to know others. Buddhism through its cornerstone of meditation is the key to unlock the inner universe which has developed in our minds. Only by dealing with the factors of our own making can we hope to deal with the external universe we live in. One does not take up Buddhism to hide away from the world; you take up Buddhism to engage it.

The main point differentiating  Buddhism from western style religions is that there is no petitionary prayer. There is no bargaining with a god or a deity or with Buddha “If you do this for me I will do this for you.”  Self acceptance and self love combined with self responsibility are the teaching of Buddhism.

When I was young I was involved in a backyard fight with my best friend Nicky. We had been best friends for years. I cannot remember what the fight was about but it caused a giant rift between us. A couple of 10 year old boys can not create a giant rift, but one that is large for them. I am sure we were both equally at fault but more than likely too proud to be the first to apologize or back down. I told my mom about the whole thing and she sent me to church and confession. The priest listened to me and gave me 10 Hail Mary’s and sent me on my way absolving me of my sins telling me sin no more. Nicky did the same thing going to church and becoming absolved from his sins. So now I was clean as snow and pure without sin. I was also however without my best friend. To a little boy who had lost his best friend being sinless was very little comfort.

Buddhism stresses the need for self responsibility. When you take your present, past and future out of the hands of a supernatural being there is no one else to be responsible. Our present is the off-spring of our past and the parent of our future. Buddhism teaches neither blame nor judgment of any person or situation, only our response to it. Meaning: we can take responsibility only for ourselves. Something someone else does is not for us to judge.

Our only position is to love every living person without exception with equanimity. That we do not judge nor assign any standard to, nor reproach, nor have any prejudicial feelings and actions towards anyone, is an important teaching. As a child we accept things more purely and it is easier to live a life less complicated and non-prejudicial. As a child I was able to go to my friend and make amends. We have been friends ever since.

Buddhism is a system of personal responsibility and accountability to self. Buddhists believe that goodness comes from good action which is brought about by intention, thought, and concentration. Very basically Buddhism teaches us that no one has the right to judge anyone or incidents that happen to us. We are not to take things personally as these things happen to us all. We must realize that all things pass.

Everything arises, and then falls away. Our unhappiness and sorrow come from wanting to change things or hold onto things we simply cannot. Allow yourself to let go. Allow yourself to breathe.

Believe that you are the well from which all goodness comes, and from which it flows.

I Wish You Peace,

Bhante Kassapa

Bhante n. Kassapa Bhikkhu
bhante_kassapa@yahoo.com
Buu Mon Temple
Port Arthur, Texas, 77640
409.982.9319

Lecture for World Religions Class
Professor Raul Garcia
Lamar University
Beaumont, Texas