A Response to:

"Living Buddha, Living Christ"
by Thich Nhat Hanh

Copyright 1999-2002 by John WorldPeace

All  rights reserved

CHAPTER SEVEN: FOR A FUTURE TO BE POSSIBLE

A.  Rerooting

There is a deep malaise in society.  We can send email and faxes anywhere in the world, we have pagers and cellular telephones, and yet in our families and neighborhoods we do not speak to each other.  There is a kind of vacuum inside us, and we attempt to fill it by eating, reading, talking, smoking, drinking, watching TV, going to movies, and even overworking.  We absorb so much violence and insecurity every day that we are like time bombs ready to explode. We need to find a cure for our illness. 

Many of our young people are uprooted.  They no longer believe in the traditions of their parents and grandparents, and they have not found anything else to replace them.  Spiritual leaders need to address this very real issue, but most simply do not know what to do.  They have not been able to transmit the deepest values of their traditions, perhaps because they themselves have not fully understood or experienced them.  When a priest does not embody the living values of a tradition, he or she cannot transmit them to the next generation.  He can only wear the outer garments and pass along the superficial forms.  When the living values are absent, rituals and dogmas are lifeless, rigid, and even oppressive.  Combined with a lack of understanding of people's real needs and a general lack of tolerance, it is little wonder that the young feel alienated within these institutions.

Buddhism, like Christianity and other traditions, has to renew itself in order to respond to the needs of the people of our time.  Many young people all over   the world have abandoned their church because church leaders have not caught up with the changes in society.  They cannot speak to the young people in the kind of language the young can understand.  They cannot transmit the jewels they have received from their ancestral teachers to the young.  That is why so many young people are left with nothing to believe in.  They feel uneasy with their church, their society, their culture, and their family.  They don't see anything worthwhile, beautiful, or true.

We need roots to be able to stand straight and grow strong.  When young people come to Plum Village, I always encourage them to practice in a way that will help them go back to their own tradition and get rerooted.  If they succeed at becoming reintegrated, they will be an important instrument in transforming and renewing their tradition.  After an interfaith retreat in Santa Barbara, one young man told me, "Thây, I feel more Jewish than ever.  I will tell my rabbi that a Buddhists monk inspired me to go back to him."  People form other traditions said the same thing.

B.  The Jewels of our Own Tradition

In East Asia, every home has a family altar.  Whenever there is an important event in the family, such as the birth of a child, we offer incense and announce the news to our ancestors.  If our son is about to go to college, we make an offering and announce that tomorrow our son will leave for college.  When we return home after a long trip, the first thing we do is offer incense to our ancestors and announce that we are home.  When we practice this way, we always feel deeply rooted in the family.

I encourage my students of Western origin to do the same.  When we respect our blood ancestors and our spiritual ancestors, we feel rooted.  If we can find ways to cherish and develop our spiritual heritage, we will avoid the kind of alienation that is destroying society, and we will become whole again.  We must encourage others, especially young people, to go back to their traditions and rediscover the jewels that are there.  Learning to touch deeply the jewels of our own tradition will allow us to understand and appreciate the values of other traditions, and this will benefit everyone.

C.  Cultivating Compassion

Precepts in Buddhism and commandments in Judaism and Christianity are important jewels that we need to study and practice.  They provide guidelines that can help us transform our suffering.  Looking deeply at these precepts and commandments, we can learn the art of living in beauty.  The Five Wonderful Precepts of Buddhism -- reverence for life, generosity, responsible sexual behavior, speaking and listening deeply, and ingesting only wholesome substances -- can contribute greatly to the happiness of the family and society.  I have recently rephrased them to address the problems of our times:

    1.  Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to    protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals.  I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking and in my way of life.

The First Precept is born from the awareness that lives everywhere are being destroyed.  We see the suffering caused by the destruction of life, and we vow to cultivate compassion and use it as a source of energy for the protection of people, animals, plants, and minerals.  No act of killing can be justified.  And not to kill is not enough.  We must also learn ways to prevent others form killing.  We cannot condone any act of killing, even in our minds.  According to the Buddha, the mind is the base of all actions.  When you believe, for example, that yours is the only way for humankind, millions of people might be killed because of that idea.  We have to look deeply every day to practice this precept well.  Every time we buy our consume something, we may be condoning some form of killing.

To practice nonviolence, first of all we must learn to deal peacefully with ourselves.  In us, there is a certain amount of violence and a certain amount of nonviolence.  Depending on the state of our being, our response to things will be more or less nonviolent.  With mindfulness -- the practice of peace -- we can begin by working to transform the wars in ourselves.  conscious breathing helps us do this.  But no one can practice this precept perfectly.  We should not be too proud about being a vegetarian, for example.  We must acknowledge that the water in which we boil our vegetables contains many tiny microorganisms, not to mention the vegetables themselves.  but even if we cannot be completely nonviolent, by being vegetarian we are going in the direction of nonviolence.  If we want to head north, we can use the North Star to guide, us, but it is impossible to arrive at the North Star.  Our effort is only to proceed in that direction.  If we create true harmony within ourselves, we will know how to deal with family, friends, and society.

Life is so precious, yet in our daily lives we are usually carried away by our forgetfulness, anger, and worries.  The practice of the First Precept is a celebration of reverence for life.  When we appreciate and honor the beauty of life, we will make every effort to dwell deeply in the present moment and protect all life.

D.  Cultivating Loving -- Kindness

    2.  Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I vow to cultivate loving-kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals.  I vow to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need.  I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others.  I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others form profiting form human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.

The Five Precepts inter-are.  When you practice one precept deeply, you practice all five.  The First Precept in about taking life, which is a form of stealing.  When we mediate on the Second Precept, we see that stealing, in the forms of exploitation, social injustice, and oppression, is an act of killing.

Instead of stealing, we practice generosity.  In Buddhism, we say there are three kinds of gifts: (1) the first of material resources, (2) the gift of helping people rely on themselves, and (3) the gift of non-fear.  But it takes time to practice generosity.  Sometimes one pill or a little rice could save the life of a child, but we do not think we have the time to help.  The best use of our time is being generous and really being present with others.  People of our time tend to overwork, even when they are not in great need of money.  We seem to take refuge in our work in order to avoid confronting our real sorrow and inner turmoil.  We express our love and care for others by working hard, but if we do not have time for the people we love, if we cannot make ourselves available to them, how can we say that we love them?

True love needs mindfulness.  We have to take the time to acknowledge the presence of the person we love.  "Darling, I know you are there, and I am happy."  This cannot be done if we can't free ourselves from our preoccupations and our forgetfulness.  In order to acknowledge the presence of our beloved one, we have to offer our own true presence.  Without the practice of establishing ourselves in the here and in the now, this seems impossible.  Mindful time spent with the person we love is the fullest expression of true love and real generosity.  One twelve-year-old boy, when asked by his father what he would like for his birthday, said, "Daddy, I want you!"  His father was rarely at home.  He was quite wealthy, but he worked all the time to provide for his family.  His son was a bell of mindfulness for him.  The little boy understood that the greatest gift we can offer our loved ones is our true presence.

E.  The Oneness of Body and Mind

    3.  Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I vow to cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society.  I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long-term commitment.  To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others.  I will do everything in my power to protect children form sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families form being broken by sexual misconduct.  

So many individuals, children, couples, and families have been destroyed by sexual misconduct.  To practice the Third Precept is to heal ourselves and heal our society.  This is mindful living.

The feeling of loneliness is universal.  We believe in a naive way that having a sexual relationship will make us feel less lonely.  But without communication on the level of the heart and spirit, a sexual relationship will only widen the gap and harm us both.  We know that violating this precept causes severe problems, but still se do not practice it seriously.  Couples engage in infidelity; and jealousy, anger, and despair are the result.  When the children grow up, they repeat the same mistakes, yet the violation of this precept continues to be encouraged in magazines, TV shows, films, books, and so on.  We constantly encounter themes that arouse sexual desire, often coupled with themes of violence.  If our collective consciousness if filled with violent sexual seeds, why should we be surprised when there is sexual abuse of children, rape and other violent acts?

In the Buddhist tradition, we speak of the oneness of body and mind.  Whatever happens to the body also happens to the mind.  The sanity of the body is the sanity of the mind; the violation of the body is the violation of the mind.  A sexual relationship is an act of communion between body and spirit.  This is a very important encounter, not to be done in a casual manner.  In our soul there are certain areas -- memories, pain, secrets -- that are private, that we would share only with the person we love and trust the most.  We do not open our heart and show it to just anyone.

The same is true of our body.  Our bodies have areas that we do not want anyone to touch or approach unless he or she is the one we respect, trust, and love the most.  When we are approached casually or carelessly, with an attitude that is less than tender, we feel insulted in our body and soul.  Someone who approaches us with respect, tenderness, and utmost care is offering us deep communication, deep communion.  It is only in that case that we will not feel hurt, misused, or abused, even a little.  This cannot be attained unless there is true love and commitment.  Casual sex cannot be described as love.  Love is deep, beautiful, and whole, integrating body and spirit.

True love contains respect.  In my tradition, husband and wife are expected to respect each other like guests, and when you practice this kind of respect, your love and happiness will continue for a long time.  In sexual relationships, respect is one of the most important elements.  Sexual communion should be like a rite, a ritual performed in mindfulness with great respect, care, and love.  Mere desire is not love.  Without the communion of souls, the coming together of the two bodies can create division, widening the gap and causing much suffering.  

Love is much more responsible.  It has care in it and it involves the willingness and capacity to understand and to make the other person happy.  In true love, happiness is not an individual matter.  If the other person is not happy, it will be impossible for us to be happy ourselves.  True happiness is not possible without a certain degree of calmness and peace in our heart and in our body.  Passion or excitement contains within it the element of disturbance.  True love is a process of learning and practice that brings in more elements of peace, harmony, and happiness.

The phrase "long-term commitment" does not express the depth of love we feel for our partner, but we have to say something so people understand.  A long-term commitment is only a beginning.  We also need the support of friends and other people.  That is why we have a wedding ceremony.  Two families join together with other friends to witness the fact that the couple has come together to live.  The priest and the marriage license are just symbols.  What is important is that the commitment is witnessed by friends and both of the families.  "Responsibility" is the key word.  The Third Precept should be practiced by everyone.

F.  More than One Root

If a Buddhist woman wants to marry a Christian man (or vice versa), should we encourage them?  The woman will have to learn to practice her husband's tradition, and the man will have to learn and practice the wife's tradition.  Then, instead of having just one spiritual root, they will have two.  But can a person have two spiritual roots at the same time?  Can both of them learn Christianity and Buddhism and practice both traditions?  We know that when someone does not have any root, he or she will suffer tremendously.  But what about the question of having more than one root?

Before I met Christianity, my only spiritual ancestor was the Buddha.  But when I met beautiful men and women who are Christians, I came to know Jesus as a great teacher.  Since that day, Jesus Christ has become one of my spiritual ancestors.  As I have mentioned, on the altar of my hermitage in France, I have statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas and also an image of Jesus Christ.  I do not feel any conflict within me.  Instead I feel stronger because I have more than one root.

Can we allow young people of different traditions to marry each other freely, with our benediction?  Can we encourage them to practice both traditions and enrich each other?

G.  Unmindful Speech can Kill

    4.  Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I vow to cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering.  Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I vow to learn to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope.  I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure.  I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or the community to break.  I will make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.

In the Buddhist tradition, the Fourth Precept is described as refraining from these four actions: (1) Not telling the truth.  If it's black, you say it's white.  (2) Exaggerating.  You make something up, or describe something as more beautiful than it actually is, or as ugly when it is not so ugly.  (3) Forked tongue.  You go to one person and say one thing and then you go to another person and say the opposite.  (4)  Filthy language.  You insult or abuse people.

This precept admonishes us not to lie, not to say things that destroy friendships and relationships, but to use wholesome, loving speech.  It is as important as the Third Precept in preventing families form being broken.  Speaking unmindfully or irresponsibly can destroy us, because when we lie, we lose faith in our own beauty and we lose the trust of others.  We have to dissolve all prejudices, barriers, and walls and empty ourselves in order to listen and look deeply before we utter even one word.  When we are mindful of our words, it helps us, our families, and our society.  We also need to practice the Fourth Precept as individuals and as a nation.  We have to work to undo the misunderstandings that exist between the United States and Vietnam, France and Germany, Norway and Sweden, and so on.  And we must not underestimate the misunderstandings between religious traditions.  Church leaders, diplomats, and all of us need to practice this precept carefully.

Never in the history of humankind have we had so many means of communication, yet we remain islands.  There is little real communication between the members of one family, between the individuals in society, and between nations.  We have not cultivated the arts of listening and speaking.  We have to learn ways to communicate again.  When we cannot communicate, we get sick, and as our sickness worsens, our suffering spills onto other people.  When it has become too difficult to share and to communicate with those in our family, we want to go to a psychotherapist, hoping that he or she will listen to our suffering.  Psychotherapists are also human beings,  There are those who can listen deeply to us and those who, because they themselves have suffered so much, do not have the capacity.  Psychotherapists have to train themselves in the art of listening with cam and compassion.  How can someone who has so much suffering within himself or herself, so much anger, irritation, fear, and despair, listen deeply to us?  If you wish to see a psychotherapist, try to find someone who is happy and who can communicate well with his or her spouse, children, friends, and society.

Training ourselves in the art of mindful breathing is crucial for knowing how to take care of our emotions.  First, we recognize the presence of, for example, anger in us, and we allow it to be.  We do not try to suppress it our express it.  We just bring the energy of mindfulness to our anger and allow our mindfulness to take care of it the way a mother holds her baby when it begins to cry.  We do this by practicing mindful breathing, while sitting or while walking.  Walking alone in a park or along a river, coordinating our steps with our breath, is a very effective way to care for our anger, to calm it down.

In his Discourse on Mindful Breathing, the Buddha taught, "Breathing in, I recognize my feeling.  Breathing out, I calm my feeling."  If you practice this, not only will your feeling be calmed down but the energy of mindfulness will also help you see into the nature and roots of your anger.  Mindfulness helps you be concentrated and look deeply.  This is true meditation.  The insight will come after some time of practice.  You will see the truth about yourself and the truth about the person who you thought to be the cause of your suffering.  This insight will release you.  The transformation in you will also help transform the other person.

Mindful speaking can bring real happiness, and unmindful speech can kill.  When someone tells us something that makes us happy, that is a wonderful gift.  But sometimes someone says something to us that is so cruel and distressing that we feel like committing suicide.  We lose our joie de vivre.

 The Fourth Precept is also linked to the Second Precept, on stealing.  Many people have to lie in order to succeed as politicians or salespersons.  A corporate director of communications told me that if he were allowed to tell the truth about his company's products, people would not buy them.  He says positive things about the products that he knows are not true, and he refrains from speaking about their negative effects.  He knows he is lying, and he feels terrible about it.  Many people are caught in this kind of situation.  In politics, people lie to get votes.

This precept is also linked with the Third Precept, on sexual responsibility.  When someone says, "I love you," it may be a lie.  It may just be an expression of desire.  So much advertising is linked with sex.  There is a saying in Vietnamese: "It doesn't cost anything to have loving speech."  We only need to choose our words carefully, and we can make other people happy.  To use words mindfully, with loving-kindness, is to practice generosity.  Therefore this precept is linked directly to the Second Precept.  We can make many people happy just by practicing loving speech.  Again, we see the inter-being nature of the Five Precepts.

H.  Mindful Consuming

    5.  Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming.  I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society.  I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations.  I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations.  I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society.  I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society.

In modern life, people think that their body belongs to them and they can do anything they want to it.  When they make such a determination, the law supports them.  This is one of the manifestations of individualism.  But, according to the teachings of emptiness, non-self, and interbeing, your body is not yours alone.  It also belongs to your ancestors, your parents, future generations, and all other living beings.  Everything, even the trees and the clouds, has come together to bring about the presence of your body.  Keeping your body healthy is the best way to express your gratitude to the whole cosmos, to all ancestors, and also not to betray future generations.  You practice this precept for everyone.  If you are healthy, everyone can benefit from it.  When you are able to get out of the shell of your small self, you will see that you are interrelated to everyone and everything, that your every act is linked with the whole of humankind and the whole cosmos.  To keep yourself healthy in body and mind is to be kind to all beings.  The Fifth Precept is about health and healing.

This precept tells us not to ingest poisons that can destroy our minds and bodies.  We should specially avoid alcohol and other intoxicants that cause so much suffering to the individuals involved and to the victims of intoxication -- abused family members, those injured in automobile accidents, and so on.  Alcohol abuse is one of the main symptoms of the malaise of our times.  We know that those who are addicted to alcohol need to abstain one hundred percent.  But the Buddha also asked those who have only one glass of wine a week also to refrain from drinking.  Why?  Because we practice for everyone, including those who have a propensity toward alcoholism.  If we give up our glass of wine, it is to show our children, our friends, and our society that our life is not for ourselves alone, but for our ancestors, future generations, and our society also.  To stop drinking one glass of wine a week, even if it has not brought us any harm, is a deep practice, the insight of someone who knows that everything we do is for our ancestors and all future generations.  I think that the use of drugs by so many young people could be stopped with this kind of insight.

When someone offers you a glass of wine, you can smile and decline, saying, "No, thank you.  I do not drink alcohol.  I would be grateful if you would bring me a glass of juice or water."  If you do it gently, with a smile, your refusal is very helpful.  It sets an example for many friends, including the children who are present.  There are so many delicious and healthy beverages available -- why must we continue to honor a beverage that brings about so much suffering?  I have asked rabbis, priests, and nuns if they think it would be possible to substitute grape juice for wine in Sabbath rituals, the Eucharist, and other sacramental occasions, and they have said yes. 

We must also be careful to avoid ingesting toxins in the form of violent TV programs, video games, movies, magazines, and books.  When we watch that kind of violence, we water our own negative seeds, or tendencies, and eventually we will think and act out of those seeds.  because of the violent toxins in so many people's minds, and in our minds, too, it has become dangerous to walk alone at night in many cities.  Young people stare at television sets hour after hour, and their minds are invaded by programs selected by irresponsible producers.

The Fifth Precept urges us to find wholesome, spiritual nourishment not only for ourselves but also four our children and future generations.  Wholesome, spiritual nourishment can be found by looking at the blue sky, the spring blossoms, or the eyes of a child.  The most basic meditation practice of becoming aware of our bodies, our minds, and our world can lead us into a far more rich and fulfilling state than drugs ever could.  We can celebrate the joys that are available in these simple pleasures.

The use of alcohol and drugs is causing so much damage to our societies and families.  Governments use airplanes, guns, and armies to try to stop the flow of drugs, with little success.  Drug users know how destructive their habit is, but they cannot stop.  There is so much pain and loneliness inside them, and the use of alcohol and drugs helps them to forget for a while.  Once people are addicted to alcohol or drugs, they might do anything to get the drugs they need -- lie, steal, rob, or even kill.  Trying to stop the drug traffic is not the best use of our resources.  Offering education, wholesome alternatives, and hope, and encouraging people to practice the Fifth Precept are much better solutions.  To restore our balance and transform the pain and loneliness that are already in us, we have to study and practice the are of touching and ingesting the refreshing, nourishing, and healing elements that are already available.  We have to practice together as a family, a community, and a nation.  The practice of mindful consuming should become part of our national health policy.  Making it so should be a top priority.

The Five Wonderful Precepts are the right medicine to heal us.  We need only to observe ourselves and those around us to see the truth.  Our stability and the stability of our families and society cannot be obtained without the practice of these precepts.  If you look at individuals and families who are unstable and unhappy, you will be astonished to see how many of them do not practice these healthy and life-affirming precepts.  You can make the diagnosis yourself and then know that the medicine is available.  Practicing these precepts is the best way to restore stability in our families and our society.

The practice of mindfulness is to be aware of what is going on.  Once we are able to see deeply the suffering and the roots of the suffering, we will be motivated to act, to practice.  The energy we need is not fear or anger, but understanding and compassion.  There is no need to blame or condemn.  Those who destroy themselves, their families, and their society are not doing it intentionally.  Their pain and loneliness are overwhelming, and they want to escape.  They need to be helped, not punished.  Only understanding and compassion on a collective level can liberate us.  The practice of the Five Wonderful Precepts is the practice of mindfulness and compassion.  I urge you to practice them as they are presented here, or go back to your own tradition and shed light on the jewels that are already there.

I.  Real Love Never Ends

In Judaism, we are encouraged to enjoy the world as long as we are aware that it is God Himself.  But there are limits, and the Ten Commandments, which God gave Moses on Mount Sinai, express this.  The Ten Commandments are a precious jewel of the Judeo-Christian heritage, helping us know what to do and what not to do in order to cherish God throughout our daily life.

All precepts and commandments are about love and understanding.  Jesus gave His disciples the commandment to love God with all their being and to love their neighbors as themselves.  In First Corinthians, it says, " Love is patient.  Love is kind.  Love is non envious, arrogant, or rude.  It does not rejoice in wrong.  It does not insist on its own way.  It is not irritable or resentful.  It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth."  This is very close the teachings of love and compassion in Buddhism.

"Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things."  Love has no limits.  Love never ends.  Love is reborn and reborn and reborn.  The love and care of the Christ is reborn in each of us, as is the love of the Buddha.  If we invoke the name of Buddha or pray to Christ but do not practice love and understanding ourselves, something is wrong.  If we love someone, we have to be patient.  We can only help a person transform his or her negative seeds if we are patient and kind.

To take good care of yourself and to take good care of living beings and of the environment is the best way to love God.  This love is possible when there is the understanding that you are not separate from other beings or the environment.  This understanding cannot be merely intellectual.  It must be experiential,  the insight gained by deep touching and deep looking in a daily life of prayer, contemplation, and meditation.

"Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing."  Love instructs us not to act in ways that will cause suffering now or in ways that will cause suffering now or in the future.  We can discern when something that seems to be joyful has the capacity to destroy future happiness, so we do not abuse alcohol, ingest unhealthy foods, or hurt others by our words.  Real love never ends.  It will be reborn and reborn.

J.  Practicing and Sharing

Peace activist A.J. Muste said, "There is no way to peace, peace is the way."  He meant that we can realize peace right in the present moment with each look, smile, word, and action.  Peace is not just an end.  Each step we make should be peace, should be joy, should be happiness.  Precepts and commandments help us dwell in peace, knowing what to do and what not to do in the present moment.  They are treasures that lead us along a path of beauty, wholesomeness, and truth.  They contain the wisdom of our spiritual traditions, and when we practice them, our lives become a true expression of our faith, and our well-being becomes an encouragement to our friends and to society.

Our happiness and the happiness of others depends on not only a few people becoming mindful and responsible.  The whole nation has to be aware.  Precepts and commandments must be respected and practiced by individuals and by the entire nation.  When so many families are broken, the fabric of society is torn.  We must look deeply at this in order to understand the nature of these precepts and commandments.  Everyone must join in the work.  For our world to have a future, we need basic behavioral guidelines.  They are the best medicine available to protect us form the violence that is everywhere.  Practicing precepts or commandments is not a matter of suppression or limiting our freedom.  Precepts and commandments offer us a wonderful way to live, and we can practice them with joy.  It is not a matter of forcing ourselves or others to obey rules.  \

No single tradition monopolizes the truth.  We must glean the best values of all traditions and work together to remove the tensions between traditions in order to give peace a chance.  We need to join together and look deeply for ways to help people get rerooted.  We need to propose the best physical, mental and spiritual health plan for our nation and for the earth.  For a future to be possible, I urge you to study and practice the best values of your religious tradition and to share them with young people in ways they can understand.  If we meditate together as a family, a community, a city, and a nation, we will be able to identify the causes of our suffering and find ways out.  

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