Bestow kindness and aid the poor, so that they can be at peace.
When you witness people killing, have thoughts of compassion.
- The Shramanera Vinaya
I’ve been noticing…. One is that people seem to always have some kind of interpersonal conflict going on, and a second is that there’s always news of violence and disasters happening in the world.
Last week I visited the Bay Area for a few days to catch up with some old friends. Visiting the “normal” world generally presents me with a lot of drama (also known as news) that I don’t really have to think about while going about my routine at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Having been at CTTB now for about six months, I’ve been noticing some trends about my visits to the outside world. One is that people seem to always have some kind of interpersonal conflict going on, and a second is that there’s always news of violence and disasters happening in the world.
Neither of these things would seem that strange to someone reading this “from the outside.” I sometimes wonder if anyone could understand how peculiar these two things seem to someone who’s been living in a monastery for six months. But it really makes me think: what’s going on in the world, and what’s different here at CTTB?
I think I’m getting at a question that’s very important to Buddhist practice. The question might be something like: what’s the connection between symbolic violence and the open, compassionate space of Buddhist practice? It’s fairly apparent that symbolic violence doesn’t really hold any weight here at CTTB. No one really fights here, or even really argues. The whole idea of an aggressive power struggle just doesn’t fit at all—and in a really profoundly good way. It’s something I often notice and reflect on because it’s so different. Of course I still hear news of war and disaster in the world, and I try to contemplate these things when I dedicate my practice, but in my day-to-day life the forces of violence, or even any power struggle at all, are almost completely removed from anything that seems real.
One thing I can say for sure is that being removed from power struggles doesn’t immediately put an end to my tendency to get involved in them. What it does do is make it clear to me that there are sources of violence, anger, and power struggles that are all coming from the inside. And from this perspective it also becomes clear that those sources must exist in everyone, that there’s a kind of internal involvement in violence that allows it to perpetuate, and that uprooting these tendencies could be profoundly good for the world.
I’ve often asked myself, when is violence justified? Over the years I’ve realized that violence is always justified—because justification is the first cause for violence.
I’ve often asked myself, when is violence justified? Over the years I’ve realized that violence is always justified—because justification is the first cause for violence. That’s how it works. I can see this when something makes me angry or when I become judgmental. There’s usually some kind of fear or stubborn frustration, some kind of fixation on something that I wanted, some kind of perceived threat or external power. My reaction to this thinking becomes reflected in my breathing and the feelings in my body, and then I call it anger.
Five years ago I was mugged while walking down the street just after sunset in Oakland. The whole ordeal only lasted about two minutes, but the emotional impact of the event stayed with me for years. Even today I haven’t forgotten about it. The physical event itself was actually not particularly important; like I said, it only lasted a couple of minutes. I wasn’t badly hurt, and I got my wallet back the next morning. Objectively it was a very minor event in the world. But the emotional and symbolic impact it had on me was enormous because it challenged so much of what I understood about my own personal safety and power.
So what’s the benefit of having space from this kind of thought? It seems to me that the monastic environment offers a space where all of these internal struggles can work themselves out, where we finally get to relax a little bit, where we have some space to see ourselves in a new way. The nature of this kind of seclusion is that I don’t get the chance to share it too often, but I think the impact that this kind of space has, especially to people who have dedicated a great deal of time to it, can have a profoundly positive effect on the world.
Thanks for the great post, James. I have been thinking about this issue of violence originating from the personal and the external.
On a semi-related note, I remember the author of the book, The Wisdom of Crowds, discussing the unwisdom of Crowds. Traits of the crowd: anonymity, lower social penalty and personal responsibility, and self-feeding cascade. During an interview, he cited the case, which those conditions allowed a smaller group of hard-core unruly fans to get everybody to chant racist epitets they normally don’t chant.
Conversely, the author of the book stated in interviews, if there’s enough people who are known to never participate in violence with the crowd (like women and children), the crowd’s behavior will be moderated.
Here’s the interview: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4183957&sourceCode=RSS
Skip to 3:00 for the part that I’m talking about.
my sister and i have heard about cttb two years ago and wanted to visit. But we haven’t get a chance to. From this, we’ve realized that we are not selected or we don’t have the virtues. Not many people get the opportunity to cultivate at cttb. I wish everyone tranquility in success.
I enjoy reading about people who have personal experience like yours and can share with others and verbalize it the way you did.
one thing I know when I am at CTTB is that fear only exist if you let the fear take over your emotion.
actually what I am trying to say is I felt at ease and I can be truly honest and free without having to know fear when I am at CTTB.
also to know that people really care about you, and there is that
undeniable security being there.
it only goes to prove that hard labor of the sangha members and lay people who support the way-place put out there reflects what you feel when you are there….just being sincere and honest at what we do makes a difference….we can’t put a price on it.
May we all find peace and hapiness and be near great and virtuous friends and teachers.
There is certainly intrapersonal conflict. The internal violence can play out in the form of illness. This inner anger can be hard to see. Fixating on the injustice of the world gives the inner anger a place to hide. The inner, intrapersonal conflict is stealthy. It is like a secret project at Area 51 – protected – even cherished. For socially disconnected people, the inner anger gives a chance to at least feel some emotion, to feel alive. The modern society is one of disconnected individuals. There is very little love and compassion between people. Often attachment is interpreted as love. With the loss of attachment, it seems like a loss of love. Giving up the material world is very difficult. Even a small object like a fork or spoon can foster big attachment. This internal violence does exist. It is worth investigating.
I think you folks at CTTB have some power struggles etc.. Dig a little deeper and you will find that stuff. It is just human nature to have these problems. When you say “symbolic violence doesn’t really hold any weight here at CTTB” perhaps you are seeking to exclude people there who show some human emotions. You call it symbolic violence; but perhaps some person is just being ignored and they just want to get their point across. Argument is not bad in and of its’ self. Debate is an important part of training for Tibetan cultivators.
What is this symbolic violence?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_violence
“what’s the connection between symbolic violence and the open, compassionate space of Buddhist practice?”
I believe there is a strong connection between symbolic violence and the open, compassionate space of Chinese Buddhist practice. For example, while attending meditation at Buddha Root Farm, I was using the men’s bathroom to shave my head. The monk in charge barged into the bathroom to use the sink before me. He also accused me of hogging the meditation hall bathroom. The monk in charge has the social capital required to engage in symbolic violence and he was willing to use it explicitly. It was more of a way to teach than a way to hurt.
Another example is the precept robe. DRBA monks wear it all the time; whereas, other Chinese monastics only wear it for ceremony. This can be seen as using the symbolic capital of the precept robe as a weapon of symbolic violence against the other Chinese monastic organizations. It is like saying, “You guys need to shape up. We are more orthodox than you are. ”
How do you think this makes the other Chinese monastics feel?
Does this make you a higher class of monastic? The other monastics will hardly even question it because they feel a kind of shame.
This sense of shame can also be viewed as a kind of symbolic violence. It is well documented that people feel a lot of shame when they start their practice at CTTB. Much of the shame is internal for sure; but the monastics seem to inflict social violence with the raise of an eyebrow or the turn of the head. It doesn’t take much.
I’m not saying the social capital and social violence are good or bad – just that it exists in Chinese Buddhist practice – likely more than some other forms of Buddhism. In fact CTTB is kind of known for it. I don’t see it as a big problem. Sometimes it just can hurt a person’s feelings.
Thanks everyone for the comments.
Hal, I think you raise a lot of interesting points, particularly with regard to questions of shame and power dynamics. I’ve been scolded by monastics and laypeople alike, and I agree with you that objectively it’s not really a big problem, although in the moment it can be quite upsetting, depending on how you react. To use scolding as an example, I was thinking of symbolic violence as carrying “weight” through my own reaction, rather than the scolding itself. The most important thing to me in those situations is to remember my own intention and self-reflection. Whenever people can do this, the power of the affliction is that much less. This way of thinking definitely has some interesting implications with regard to ideas about shame and victimization, and I’m not ashamed to say that I haven’t completely thought through it! I appreciate the insights you have about this.
To Clara, I agree that the hard work and spirit of giving of this community shines through in many ways, including a sense of peace here that I notice every day.
To chf, even though I don’t know you, I believe in your inherent goodness. Wherever you go, you will always be at a way place whenever you remember who you really are.
Thanks for commenting!
May everyone find peace and happiness!
Oh, also Jason!
The idea of “group think” and anonymity is a really interesting spin on this. Maybe I will write something more about this later when I have time to think about it. The most moving “group think” event I’ve been involved in recently was the dedication of merit at the end of the last Guanyin Session. I don’t really have the words to describe it, but it certainly felt like something bigger than me was happening.