“With questions of poverty and wealth, with questions of racism, with questions of isolation and pain, in the face of multifaceted and ongoing ecological catastrophe to which we ourselves are actively contributing, and with the awareness that even our best intentions will not prevent the possibility that our engagement will yet cause harm — how do we engage?
“It needs to be a new kind of engagement, something openhanded, something generous. The Venerable Walpola points in a helpful direction in citing the Jataka Tales, popular legends of the Buddha’s lives before he became the Buddha…. These ten qualities are dana (charity), sila (morality), pariccaga (altruism), ajjava (honesty, maddava (gentleness), tapa (self-restraint), akkodha (non-anger), avihimsa (nonviolence), khanti (forbearance), and avirodhana (uprightness).
“I would reframe these…
- 1. Start with generosity of heart.
- 2. Bind ourselves to standards of conduct that support our aspirations…[and] align with our values.
- 3. Recall this is not all about ourselves, myself. It’s never just about ourselves.
- 4. Commit to relentless honesty, especially about our own thoughts and actions.
- 5. Try for gentleness, aimed both at ourselves and others.
- 6. Recall we are never actually in charge, and it would behoove us to act like that was true.
- 7. Anger can be the only appropriate response to some circumstances. There is nonetheless a legitimate warning about a clinging anger, what I’d call hatred.
- 8. Be mindful that the Buddha way is one of nonviolence.
- 9. Cultivate a sense of patience, even amid urgency.
- 10. Return to non-knowing…. At the same time, we’re not excused. We must act.”
