One Way or the Other?

With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,

Jeff, a faithful reader of my blog, quotes Warner-sensei and asks a question:

Society is offering us two options both of which are completely wrong. The hawks are wrong and the doves are wrong because both sides only want to see more conflict, more wars, more suffering. What's wrong with the hawks is far too clear to bother stating. But the doves cannot be happy unless there are hawks for them to fight against. The "peace movement" is only happy when there are wars to protest. They don't have the slightest interest in peace. ~ Brad Warner

http://homepage.mac.com/
doubtboy/rootsofwar.html

So, Do you understand what he is talking about here? I'm not sure I get it..

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Warner-sensei is pointing out a deep truth here in a way common among classical Zen Teachers. The truth is in neither one position or another, but in the fact that suffering arises when we cling to one position or another. True happiness comes when we cease seeking and begin experiencing. This is why we should not "fight" against war, poverty, racism or any other injustice. Our practice is to be.

When we are peace, compassion, wisdom, with no "I" involved, then what? No struggle. Zen Buddhism, in the "engaged" sense, is just so. We don't say we do, we do. We don't fight, we become. We are witnesses and participants in the world. We witness violence and participate in peace.

All of the true non-violence teachers understand this: do not strike back, yet do not yield in the heart/mind. Our bodies will break, as Gandhi points out, and they will have our broken bodies, but they will not have us.

Conflicts in absolutes are always understood by seeing the absolutes as relative.

Be well.