Promoting Peace By War....

Promote Peace by War... I reflected on those words last night. I have found there is irony there, true; but there is also a deeper ring of truth in that statement too.

Some of the major religious paths of the current world externally "seem" to exercise and encourage war, aggression and obsessive blind faith. Within the last few weeks after the bomb attack, I had the good fortune to peruse a few scriptures of several religious paths. And found that most scriptures give descriptions or battles and wars being fought. And at times, teachings were even given in the middle or the battlefield! And what you replied about the irony of promoting peace even if we have to go to war for, struck a cord in me. It's like Why is that? Why war? But looking deeper, I found most of their "wars" were divine expressions of what is going on within our hearts and these holy wars are NOT fought in the fields of mountains, Ice, earth ,air or water, but it is fought on a plane far more difficult and arduous than any planetary place can dish out to us.

I believe we CAN promote PEACE by going to war hahaha. No, no I am not a terrorist but the war is fought not with guns and bombs or weapons of mass destruction. The war is fought within ourselves and inside our hearts. The weapons of war are our practices of the Lord Buddha's teachings. The whole complete essence of what the Buddha taught was just 3 guidelines :

1. Harm No One
2. Love Everyone
3. Keep our mind pure (of negative thoughts or attitudes that harm ourselves or others I presume)

Thinking along those guidelines reminded me of a question someone asked me a number of years ago.... " Why is it that if the Buddhas promote peace, how come so many of them carry weapons and especially with so many hands ar?? And how do they do that? I have two hands already I can hardly make them cohesive"

Then I remembered one great teacher told me, that Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Protectors hold weapons not to harm others. Their weapons are to remind us of the long war we have to fight within our hearts. For example Manjushri holds a Flaming Sword is a blatant reminder of how important it is for us to cut away Ignorance and Delusions at its very root by the development of Wisdom. That's why the Sword in the right hand ( activity ) and the Prajna Paramita Text in his left ( reflection ) supported by a beautiful lotus flower.

The question about the hands I found kinda funny though (being quite a klutz myself with my limbs ) Kuan Yin ( or Avalokitesvara ) has a 1000 hands and Eyes!! Wow! That stumped me, I really don't know how she handles having a 1000 hands moving simultaneously, by I believe 1000 hands means helpful activities in saving, comforting and rescuing sentient beings from sufferings in 1000 directions (meaning wherever we are) just as having 11 heads/faces, and having 1000 eyes to keep watch on us to protect us where ever we are and whomever we are, big or small. 1000 eyes also depict her unsurpassable skillful means in seeing things from 1000 ways and angles to develop 1000 methods to help us beings who are in suffering, sadness or pain.

So to wrap this up before it becomes too long again, I believe we can promote peace through war, by using the weapons of Love, Kindness, Humility, Joyousness, Generousity, Patience etc etc given to us by the divine to wage an INNER WAR to curb and defeat the Hate, Anger, Greed, and the like that is festering within us. To outwardly USE the weapons of Love and Kindness for others, that our inner enemy of Hatefulness and Self-Cherishing be step by step totally destroyed. As WE aspire to be more like Lama Tsongkapa by applying the Flaming Sword of the Dharma which cuts away our Ignorance, then we can eventually practice the teachings to be more and more and more like the Buddha which at the moment lies dormant in our hearts.

May we eventually we able to conquer our Inner enemies of Ignorance, Hatred and Attachment with the Supreme Weapons of Bodhicitta and Shunyatta.