Organ Mountain Zen



Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Westboro Baptist Church

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



The news this morning assures us that the US Supreme Court stands with the First Amendment of the Constitution, even when that speech is loathsome. As abbot of the Order of Clear Mind Zen, I offer my response to the Rev. Phelps below:



The Order of Clear Mind Zen responds to Rev. Fred Phelps, Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, Kansas.



Dear Rev. Phelps,



I have just read that the US Supreme Court upheld your right to free speech. I am thankful that they did so and, personally, I want to thank you for offering us the opportunity to work on compassion and to practice forgiveness of your hate and the great suffering you and your Church inflict on human beings in the midst of their own great suffering. It is a challenge to offer you love, I admit. The suffering you cause in the name of your faith is very great. My first instinct is to want harm to come to you, to want you to suffer with the rest of us. But your anger and your pain are evident and I sense they offer you protection from those who hate you.



From this I learn that hate is a barrier to compassion. Hate protects us from pain, but prevents us from touching our own humanity and it is this loss that is most tragic in your life. The fact is, you cannot love. For you to love would require you to drop the barriers your hate provides. That would be far too painful for you.



So, while my disgust is there, and my desire to harm you is there, it arises out of my love for those you harm, and my desire to protect them from your hate. I could say I practice the Buddha Way for you, to free you from your suffering, but ultimately, though, I practice the Buddha way for myself, sir, because as you stumble in your darkness seeking light, you cause me to examine my own heart and I am able to see my own humanity. Powerful feelings are great teachers. Yet, we must be willing to be taught by them. In your freedom to speak, may you learn the responsibility of that speech; may you look upon the hearts that you harm and feel their pain. In this feeling the opportunity arises to experience compassion and the way for you to be truly free presents itself.



May we both, then, be free from suffering.

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