Even the Dalai Lama must have mixed emotions today. It is to be hoped, though there is no certainty this is true, that the death of Osama will help reduce terrorist threats. On a spiritual level we can have compassion for his soul while accepting on a practical level the necessity of his death.
Years ago I received this teaching which I shared in this blog:
"Even those who seem to have come into this world only to cause pain and destruction are sinless children of God at the core of their being. Encrusted and bound as they are by the scars of past pain, the soul within still glows and yearns to be released. Osama's soul is like a man buried alive; his hatred is like a coffin blocking out all light and even air, and the weight of Separation bears down like tons of earth heaped upon him. Wrapped in ropes of pain, it struggles only to find itself held tighter. It will require much compassion and lovingkindness from others to free that soul from the crushing weight of all the pain its thrashing about has caused. But if Osama and the millions of others like him are ever to be deflected from their destructive course, it will be by the true force of love and compassion, which is Spirit, and not by the false and hollow means of further death and destruction."
His soul is now free to return wrapped in another body, with a different mind and personality. What experiences await it are beyond our power to predict.
I see today's news as the carrying out of an execution. Temporal powers demand an eye for an eye. We would do well to remember that the personal desire for revenge does not emanate from the God-spark at the core of our being, but from a primitive part of the mind expressed through the ego. Society must have laws and there must be punishments for breaking those laws. Society also has the right to protect itself from those who would cause it harm. But we can be steadfast and uncompromising in enforcing our laws and protecting our families without taking pleasure in the pain it causes to such as Osama. To take such pleasure is to yield to the same egoic pressure that drove his own actions, and to ensure that the cycle of violence and hatred will intensify. As for myself, I understand the urge to celebrate, but I will try very hard to be faithful to the teaching I have been given.
Years ago I received this teaching which I shared in this blog:
"Even those who seem to have come into this world only to cause pain and destruction are sinless children of God at the core of their being. Encrusted and bound as they are by the scars of past pain, the soul within still glows and yearns to be released. Osama's soul is like a man buried alive; his hatred is like a coffin blocking out all light and even air, and the weight of Separation bears down like tons of earth heaped upon him. Wrapped in ropes of pain, it struggles only to find itself held tighter. It will require much compassion and lovingkindness from others to free that soul from the crushing weight of all the pain its thrashing about has caused. But if Osama and the millions of others like him are ever to be deflected from their destructive course, it will be by the true force of love and compassion, which is Spirit, and not by the false and hollow means of further death and destruction."
His soul is now free to return wrapped in another body, with a different mind and personality. What experiences await it are beyond our power to predict.
I see today's news as the carrying out of an execution. Temporal powers demand an eye for an eye. We would do well to remember that the personal desire for revenge does not emanate from the God-spark at the core of our being, but from a primitive part of the mind expressed through the ego. Society must have laws and there must be punishments for breaking those laws. Society also has the right to protect itself from those who would cause it harm. But we can be steadfast and uncompromising in enforcing our laws and protecting our families without taking pleasure in the pain it causes to such as Osama. To take such pleasure is to yield to the same egoic pressure that drove his own actions, and to ensure that the cycle of violence and hatred will intensify. As for myself, I understand the urge to celebrate, but I will try very hard to be faithful to the teaching I have been given.
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The Teacher rebuked the student, saying, "You are mistaken if you think compassion is a gift that you bestow upon others. Compassion is your obeisance to God, the recognition of the universal spirit that unites you with the other. If you lack compassion for any child of God you are choosing to separate yourself from God to that extent."
Bin Laden was the victim of his hatred. Let us take care not to become victims of our own.
I find I have a heavy heart this morning thinking about all that transpired yesterday and thinking back to that horrible day on a beautiful clear September morning where the world witnessed a scene of inconceivable horror take place right before our eyes. My compassion lies with the families that lost their loved ones that day and the multitudes of innocent people that lost their lives because of Bin Laden and his followers. I find it difficult to feel any compassion for evil souls like Bin Laden. I have no hatred, but just sadness that any of this ever had to happen.
Those feelings are certainly understandable. Sadness is a sign of compassion. Sadness is only a step away from the realization that suffering is inevitable in this world. Yet this is the world in which we chose to incarnate, or which was chosen for us. There is some purpose in our experience of pain and sadness, if only to perfect our compassion.
Whatever suffering has been inflicted by bin Laden at the physical level, has inflicted even greater suffering on the aspect of the Self at the core of his being. Imagine being trapped and helpless in your own mind and watching your body/mind perform horrific acts of terrorism. It it for the eternal God-spark that inhabited that body temporarily that we feel compassion, and not the hideously degraded personality that died with his body.
As the Teacher said, compassion for all beings is a duty owed to God. When we try to pick and choose the objects of our compassion, we are putting our limited judgment and vision in God's place, and separating ourselves from It thereby. The act of judging destroys any beneficial effect on our own being that the practice of compassion would otherwise bestow.
A Buddhist meditation goes something like this:
May I have peace.
May they (those for whom I care the most) have peace.
May they (those who bear me no ill will) have peace
May all beings (including those who consider themselves my enemies) have peace.
The last line is the most important.
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