From “Taste of Chicago Buddhism” November 2015
Back in 2002 during what became known as the “Beltway Sniper
Attacks,” schools in the suburban Washington D.C. area were under lockdown,
keeping the students indoors. I remember hearing on the radio one father said
he told his grade-school aged son, “What you are feeling now is not that
unusual. There are children in many parts of the world and even here in the
United States who everyday live in fear of being shot.” After the two
perpetrators were captured, the children in those suburban areas could go back
to being carefree playing outdoors, while even now in places around the world
and in certain neighborhoods in Chicago, children are well aware that they can
become the victims of violence at any moment.
I always recall that father’s words when I hear about
tragedies such as the terrorist attacks in Paris – what the media plays up as
so extraordinary for “nice neighborhoods” is sadly a frequent occurrence for
the many who live in the midst of violent conflict. The people killed and
maimed by the terrorists were enjoying typical First World pleasures – sports
event in a large arena, concert by an American rock band, eating a gourmet
dinner and sipping wine and espresso at a sidewalk café. The victims may not
have been wealthy, but they like myself were bourgeoisie, having disposable
income to spend on leisure activities. The news of Paris motivated some to
bring attention to horrific massacres that had been woefully underreported –
such as the April attack at a university in Kenya and the suicide bombings in
Beirut. The terrorist killings in the Middle East and Africa usually take place
in settings more proletariat (people working long hours to support their
families) than bourgeoisie – victims were doing what people in the First,
Second (former Soviet countries) and Third World mostly do, gather at the
marketplace, at places of worship, at weddings and funerals, and at schools for
the not-to-be-taken-for-granted opportunity of education.
With most of the news media focused on Paris, I would have
missed the update on Sandra Bland were it not for Father Michael Pfleger
(priest at Chicago’s St. Sabina Church) calling attention to it. I spoke about
Sandra Bland at this summer’s Maida Center retreat – contrasting her arrest
video with the stories of Buddhist seekers meeting their teachers, how the idea
of “encounter” between two humans can go right (when one of them is free from
ego-concerns) or go so very wrong. Unlike some of the other African Americans
noted in news stories who died in police custody, Sandra Bland was from a bourgeois
background – she was from Naperville, a suburban area west of Chicago.
What Father Pfleger was outraged about is the official
report from the Texas county where Sandra Bland died – the attorneys asked the
court to dismiss charges against the jailers because to them it was a clear
case of suicide. They somehow read Sandra Bland’s mind and concluded she was
despondent because none of her family members or friends would pay for her bail
or come help her. Although there’s a possibility that Sandra Bland was suicidal
due to physiological conditions, for the officials to paint her family and
friends as heartlessly sending her to her death is reason for anyone to be
outraged.
You may be wondering what these ramblings have to do with
Buddhism. For one, Buddhism teaches us to be wary of what seems to be the truth
– any person purportedly “telling the truth” is only giving a biased account of
what they thought they perceived. Much of our bias is non-intentional – we are
influenced by our upbringing and many internal and external factors. But from
the beginning of humankind, people intentionally bend the facts to fit their
agenda (I learned a lot about this in the Hebrew Bible course I took at the
Pacific School of Religion one summer). So I really don’t give much credence to
the news about what caused the Paris attacks – we all know how easily evidence
is manipulated. But the Sandra Bland case should be especially troubling to us
– anyone (particularly a person of color) can be targeted, incited, confined,
possibly drugged and then reported as a suicide by parties who don’t want to
admit to any transgression of society’s carefully structured rules of civilized
behavior.
The other point is compassion – for the victims and the
perpetrators and for many of us who are both at varying times. Shuichi Maida
emphasized the Zen phrase “heijo-tei,” which Dr. Haneda translated as
“flat-ordinariness.” I think it points to the ultimate equality of all beings.
The people who were killed in Paris were no more special than the victims in Beirut
or Kenya. The people who carried out the killings were no more evil than any of
us – when we’re easily swayed to think some lives are not worthy and can be
destroyed for our noble cause (think of the monks in various Asian countries
resorting to violent means of “eliminating” the Muslims who don’t fit in their
idea of a peaceful Buddhist state). To me “Black Lives Matter” is not a
contradiction of “heijo-tei” but it’s a reminder of how much we violate the
spirit of “heijo-tei” when one group is abused by those who feel superior.
“Black Lives Matter” is Namu Amida Butsu – it’s being hit upsides our
privileged judgmental heads and confronting us with the shining dignity of all
beings. Despite what they look like, despite what we think they’ve done – they
are shining with the truth of the past, present and future which we must aspire
to understand with its pain and tears more deeply.
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