(Our BCA Ministers Summer Study Seminar (Fuken) was held in June in New York. We conducted memorial services for the victims of 9/11 at Battery Park and Ground Zero. It is a few days after 9/11/08 as I write for our October Sangha Guide. I continue to remember with much sorrow the loss of over 3000 people on that day. Today, I wish to share those feelings and thoughts I wrote soon after 9/11/2001 ).

In the aftermath of the September 11 national tragedy in New York Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania, together with the recent incidences of anthrax poisoning, I continue to be personally affected and deeply concerned. I struggle with the reality that a part of me wants to annihilate the enemy, and a part of me also realizes this is not what the Buddha calls us to do.

As I watch the ongoing news coverage of our war with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and globally with the terrorists, I wish, on one hand, that we make a decisive more to destroy these defined enemies. On the other hand, I hope that the innocents in Afghanistan will not be killed or maimed. War, by its very nature escalates violence and makes the deaths of innocents inevitable. Justice cries out for this crime against humanity, but it must be meted humanely.

Who is right in this present situation? Who is wrong? Are we in the right because we did not initiate the heinous acts in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania? Are the terrorists wrong for using and taking innocent lives in initiating this war? Are there past historical antecedents which brought these acts about? How are we to resolve this tragedy in the light of our notions of good and evil? Who or what is going to bring about a peaceful resolution or co-existence when in fact the global scene continues to be a stage for endless reenactments of ancient and seemingly irresolvable conflicts of nations, race, politics, religions, etc.? How have our prayers and meditations of loving-kindness from past to present affected and transformed the hearts and minds of humanity? Can we not see the global karmic destruction we potentially hold in our individual and collective hands? Of what value is human life today when we can cross any national border to destroy each other? And though we bring our religious faith to the table in these conflicts, how is it relevant in bringing real peace and lessening enmity and animosity amongst the people?

The Buddha’s words struck me deeply in the midst of this immediate destruction: "Hate is not overcome by hate. Hate is overcome by love. This is an ancient law." This brought a measure of conscious bearing on my anger, fear, and vengeance welling in my heart. It strongly brought to mind too the line from my daily chanting of the Loving-Kindness Meditation: "May my enemies be happy and well; many no harm or difficulties come to them; may they live in peace and harmony." I struggled to keep this dharma positively in my heart and mind. I realized how my anger and hatred can blindly consume me in unimaginable and inexpressible ways. While struggling to recite this line, the light of dharma as boundless wisdom and compassion illumines me, and humbles me in the awareness that I wish deeply to share peace and harmony with my enemies.

Thomas Merton, the late well-known Trappist monk and a good friend also of the late D.T. Suzuki states:

Violence rests on the assumption that the enemy and I are entirely different: The enemy is evil and I am good. The enemy must be destroyed and I must be saved. But love sees things differently. It sees that even the enemy suffers from the same sorrows and limitations that I do. That we both have the same hopes, the same needs, the same aspirations for a peaceful and harmless human life. And that death is the same for both of us.

The thoughts by Merton moved me to reflect beyond my immediate reactions of anger and hate; to empathize with my enemy and realize that my enemy and I are interconnected and interdependent in this world we live and share. Our karmic ties are woven deeply into our mutual lives. In this sense, anger and hatred can be aroused mutually in my enemy and myself. Also, love and compassion can be aroused mutually in my enemy and myself. Moving with love and compassion may be difficult in the moment when one’s sense of good and evil clash, and the seeming evil enemy is apparent in my view. But in the light of Dharma, we are illumined in our reflection to see the fundamental relatedness and interconnectedness we share and hold the possibility of closing the gap between my enemy and me. To this end, the spirit of the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion become manifest in the words of Merton:"...love sees things differently. It sees that even the enemy suffers from the same sorrows and limitations that I do. That we both have the same hopes, the same needs, the same aspirations for a peaceful and harmless human life. And that death is the same for both of us."

Finally, Taitetsu Unno’s response to 9/11 resonates deeply and keeps my focus on the Dharma as my transforming light:

Amida, the heart of boundless compassion, cries every time human beings commit unspeakable violence on other human beings. The focus of concern, however, is not on humankind in general but each of us, you and me, that we not fall victim to our baser instincts for violence but try to bring some light in the darkness that enshrouds our world today. We aspire to live by the words of Shinran, "May peace prevail on earth and may the Buddha Dharma spread ever more."

Such caring words of wisdom and compassion as those shared above continue to give me hope and inspiration to participate in the process of transforming the "darkness that enshrouds our world today".

Namu-Amida-Butsu