Solidarity
Today I visited a refugee house with few of my students and we distributed toys, toiletries, rice, dahl, school supplies, all of which we had gathered and also bought.
If only I think for one second about those people’s suffering fleeing to Europe, just like many others, too, I can’t but think seriously about what to do and then put it into action, getting active. In thoughts, words and deeds. The hour’s heading definitely is compassion.
When it comes to compassion we often taint it with the feeling “this one here, that one there is that poor, that uneducated, that sick” and that is why something in our hearts moves us. Some kind of unbalance is the result. Wir feel above those for whom we feel. We give from above to those below. And our ego, once again, found a new trick to boost. We feel good to do good things. Doing good is definitely good. But as Buddhists, especially as Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhists, for us who are holding Bodhisattva vows, this is not sufficient.
For the above reasons I always prefer to and usually talk about solidarity as solidarity implies that we are at the same level as those for whom we feel. We feel same with them, on par with them. This is important else our Bodhisattva compassion is incomplete. Why do we feel par with them? Because that which connects us is our Buddha nature. Sloppily speaking, we are all unenlightended Buddhas. We all, all sentient beings, have this potential for perfection in us. It is our potential, our essence, our Buddha in deep sleep within us.
Hence, if, especially these days, we give and contribute, pitch in and being active and our Buddha within shows us the path very clearly, points out what to do, then we should always bring to mind this solidarity, let it spark in us and become the true driving force of our doing.
