A call for peace

12 October 2023

As a practitioner of Buddhism in the Plum Village tradition of Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh, “I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life” (1). During times of conflict—such as now—this commitment to nonviolence carries additional weight because the position gets routinely attacked and condemned. For example, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week that calling for a ceasefire is “disgraceful” (2). If what she said is true, then it is the disgrace of Henry David Thoreau, who was jailed in 1846 for protesting the Mexican-American war. It is the disgrace of Gandhi, who was arrested by British officials in 1922 on charges of sedition. And it is the disgrace of Martin Luther King Jr., who in 1967 called the U.S. government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” (3). Will any living person stand for peace, or will we continue capitulating to bad faith arguments that equate pacifism with justification of terrorism (4)?

This kind of question might keep me up at night.

References

  1. “The Five Mindfulness Trainings.” Plum Village, https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-5-mindfulness-trainings. Accessed 12 October 2023.

  2. Gangitano, Alex. “White House calls lawmakers not backing Israel ‘wrong,’ ‘disgraceful.’” The Hill, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4248451-white-house-calls-lawmakers-not-backing-israel-wrong-disgraceful. Accessed 12 October 2023.

  3. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Beyond Vietnam—A Time to Break Silence.” American Rhetoric, https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm. Accessed 12 October 2023.

  4. @NikkiHaley. “I don’t know how the Left justifies the beheadings. I don’t know how the Left justifies 1,200 people dead. I don’t know how the Left justifies the torture. That’s between them and God. I don’t understand it and I don’t want to understand it.” X, 11 October 2023, 3:05 p.m., twitter.com/NikkiHaley/status/1712197678929420551.