The woman in the picture is vegan activist Benazir Suraiya who was carrying a sign that read "Make Eid Happy For All - Try Vegan" to promote veganism in her Islamic community yesterday (Monday). In a matter of minutes a mob attacked her and threw footwear and stones at her. It was her date with adversity. What do you do when faced with adversity?
Before someone is enlightened (free from sufferings) she has to battle negative forces. Negative forces are difficult situations, negative emotions and mental formations like fear, anger, insecurity, anxiety, sadness, greed, jealousy, contempt, sensual desires, hunger, distraction etc. Buddha had to face all of these difficulties. He was criticized by his friends from the Sānkhya school. He almost died of starvation. He was attacked by the most lethal of Mara's weapons - distraction every time he would try to focus on his breath.
We all have to conquer adversities if we wish to be free from sufferings. It is very difficult because most of us are completely driven by emotions and circumstances. How to break this cycle of slavery? How to battle fear? There are some things we need to understand thoroughly to generate the faith that we need to progress.
The first is the understanding of interdependent co-arising. This is because that is. Everything exists because everything else exists. That is why we wish to bring about a positive transformation in our community. When we understand this very well, we begin to practice the Five Mindfulness trainings (#5Mindfulness) which includes veganism.
The next important concept that we need to understand is that the effect is present in the cause in an un-manifested form and manifests when conditions are right. This is why a little girl can grow into a pretty young woman, a mango seed can turn into a huge mango tree. The pretty young woman comes from the little girl and mango tree comes from the mango tree. If we consider the Earth as the seed then we all emerge from that seed and the Earth is in us as much as we are in the Earth. At no point is there a distance between the Earth and us. Nothing is separate. An atom is in the universe and the universe is in an atom. Separateness is an illusion.
The third understanding is that transformation is illusory like an illusionist's trick. Why is this so? Because if transformation was real something would transform into something else altogether which means something would be created and something annihilated but we know that cannot be. A cloud transforms into water and water can transform into ice and vice versa and evaporate to become a cloud again. At no point is the water annihilated or created.
These three understandings are called - interdependent co-arising, non-self and impermanence. This leads to the understanding the 'you are in me and I am in you'. This is called shunyata (emptiness) or interbeing. We think that something exists separately because we thing it has a separate self, that there is a distance between the object and the subject and that transformation (like from life to death) is real. Once we have seen through these three illusory aspects and understood interbeing (emptiness) we have the first of the five powers in action - faith. We still have to develop a stronger grip on interbeing and unlock the doors of signlessness and aimlessness. Signlessness is to recognize manifestations. Aimlessness is practicing to recognize that all conditions for manifestation of happiness are present in the here and now. All the three doors are in each other.
The next step is to practice the second power - diligence. We must diligently practice the Five Mindfulness trainings - reverence for life (non violence), true happiness (exploitation free living), true love ( commitment and understanding), mindful speech and mindful consumption. By practicing and promoting veganism we are already doing all of these to an extent but we need to do more. The more we do this, the faster the obstacles of knowledge and perceptions disappear.
In order to do that and to overcome adversities like temptations or frustrations, we have to bring the third power - mindfulness into action. Be mindful that adversity is just another phenomenon. All phenomena perceived by the five senses are like an illusionist's trick - impermanent and have no existence of their own. So keep this in mind and don't be upset or led astray by fear, insecurities etc.
We practice to be enlightened. Just like sports persons who train hard before games, we need the fourth power - concentration to improve our practice. Concentration leads to the fifth power - insight. When insight is fully developed we are past the three doors and there is no more separation from anyone or any condition of joy. Everyone is present, all conditions for happiness are present. No more craving, no more unfulfilled desires.
We must thank adversities because they strengthen our practice. Yesterday, Benazir may have shed tears but they have become a cloud now and one of these days they will transform into raindrops and kiss her cheek and she can dance in the rain!
(The author is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh.)
#विज्ञप्तिमात्र #Vijñaptimātra #ThichNhatHanh #5Mindfulness #Enlightenment #Veganism
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