I’m lucky as an American – I get to practice meditation in peace. The ZBT’s dharma priest Bopkyong asked: if I were faced with being tortured, could I maintain some semblance of compassion?
The Buddha recites in the Dhammapada: “All beings tremble before violence. / All fear death. / All love life. // See yourself in others. / Then whom can you hurt? / What harm can you do?”
Staring in the eyes of my torturer, would I be looking in my own eyes? As he removes my fingernail with rusty pliers, could I feel his hands as mine? With all of the violence in Libya (and untold violence in Africa), how can you fight violence with peace? How do you not only look at your enemy as yourself, but also give this vision to your enemy?
Thich Quang Duc had an answer during the Vietnam War (or, as the Vietnamese call it, the American War):
Can you see yourself ablaze in his compassion?
