from a personal poetical exploration of
thich nhat hanh's 14 precepts
sixth precept: compassion is understanding
Do not maintain anger or hatred. Learn to penetrate and transform them when they are still seeeds in your consciousness. As soon as they arise, turn your attention to your breath in order to see and understand the nature of your anger and hatred and the nature of the persons who have caused your anger and hatred.
community is having to accept folks you don't always and sometimes never like I was astounded to finally discover someone whom many swarthmore people would prefer not to see one called him "unaesthetically pleasing" - bearing pit acne or comingle with him in the slightest after a brief breakfast she described him annoying and pitiful, regrettably. collusion from another friend invected him intolerable especially in the morning, before he's taken his medication all the moreso of standard thought rambling persistence he confesses a lack of understanding social cues his blight and brilliance these women find him infringing he steals their voice and space with ugly indeference for polite and constructs he doesn't let slide a cliché a woman friend of his behalf spoke sat sitting alone "exuding hatred for the world" he came along, cheery, "may I sit here?" and there was no one else who could have lifted her appropriately without social cues. remembering my own brutal social indoctrination learning to pay attention to the unspoken versus unrepentant ostracision I see his suffering as my own watching the wary ways people do not face him evading contact and connection results in burning zeal seeking anger and hatred transformation I sent the explicitly negative the following: Date: Sun, 10 Dec 1995 20:58:19 -0500 (EST) From: Justin Hall <[email protected]> To: <recipient list supressed> Subject: <title supressed> When we grow a lemon tree, we want it to be vigorous and beautiful. But, if it isn't vigorous and beautiful, we don't blame the tree. We observe it in order to understand why isn't growing well. Perhaps we have not taken good care of it. We know it is funny to blame a lemon tree, but we do blame human beings when they are not growing well. Because our brothers, sisters, and children are humans, we think they should behave in certain ways. But human beings are not very different from lemon trees. If we take good care of them, they will grow properly. Blaming never helps. Only love and understanding can help people change. If we take good care of people, we will be rewarded by their pleasantness. Is this much different from the rewards we recieve from our lemon tree? - Thich Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, page 31 these like minds beautiful people have reacted with strength vehement violence to another friend I want to be a bridge sharing beauty and pain of either side prevents the short sidedness of blame the more there is talk somehow between them breeds mutuality and compassion the closer are we all to understanding "when we help children see and understand the suffering of humans and other living beings, we nourish compassion and understanding in them." (28) he learns the pain of having space infringed as he is observed the presence of unspoken words. in turn they learn the pain of being beside the norm beautiful dealing with detrimented dermatology and the beauty of abstracted conversation beyond the norm convention they have understood "the nature of the persons who have caused their anger and hatred" and so are they in touch with the seventh
fifth | interbeing | seventh