The Begging Bowl

Buddhist monks, in practicing their call to holiness, rely upon the alms of the lay faithful to provide them with food, clothes, and other needs. Often, these alms come in exchange for spiritual services the monks perform for the laity such as weddings and funerals. The posture a monk observes when receiving alms is holding the empty bowl in hand so that the almsgiver may place the alms in the bowl. However, when a monk turns the begging bowl upside down, rendering the possibility of giving alms impossible, the monk is withdrawing consent from the the spiritual practice of the community.

In Burma, the upside down bowl became a powerful symbolic action in response to the military junta's repression of the pro-democracy movement. In a devoutly Buddhist country, the withdrawal of the monk's begging bowl represents the denunciation of the systemic violence and oppression of the country's military leaders.

30 December 2007

partyin' peeps

i spent the evening at an umphrey's mcgee concert. they are a band that, according to most people, falls within the jam band crowd. i was surrounded by lots of drugs, alcohol, apathy, and ridiculousness tonight. it is very troubling because i found myself being sucked into the lifestyle and attitudes of the music scenes and did not like it. my prayers, my fears, my hopes, are being answered and it is difficult to see a new me emerging out of the fresh ashes, if not still burning, old me. im scared life will not be as fun without the constant pleasure of music and party. i fear losing friends, family even, because now im considered "too cool." my will is being torn, pulled in different directions, but ultimately, my broken heart will yield and give way to the nonviolent life and love of god.

25 December 2007

Navidad

Merry Christmas! The Spanish greeting for this happy holy day, feliz navidad, captures all the love and grace one needs: happy nativity and birth. Let us celebrate the birth of Jesus and the nonviolent love of God by asking God to fill our hearts with love and compassion so that the world may know war no more. Peace, friends.

22 December 2007

everlasting

i am fighting god for my peace. i think god is winning.

20 December 2007

distillations

BE FREE. Fight for my liberation. Suffer for peace > love God. givesomething.giveanything.giveeverything. Just let it be. Open my life to love + peace. HATE. HATE WAR. Hate injustice. Hate racism, sexism, ageism, capitalism, communism, every -ism. BELIEVE in something Real. Live peace. Choose purity and life. Believe God. CHANGE is possible.

15 December 2007

she lies...

and says she's in love with him...can't find a better man. she dreams in colors, she dreams in red; can't find a...

does this song effectively engage in nonviolence with regards to personal emotion and feeling? how does one deal with personal relationships in nonviolent means?

14 December 2007

Nonviolence in Action

Nonviolence is all about, at least at some level, the body politics. I want to do justice to the ethos of understanding nonviolence through sacrifice, but first, I have a story a friend told me:

There was a conference on the individual response to the war in Iraq that got a bit out of hand. A number of different perspectives on how to deal with such responses clashed and chaos ensued. Names were called and violence was threatened. A man and woman were in each others' faces yelling, calling names, etc. My friend threw his body between the two to break the tension, create a space between the building violence, and tried to engage the two in discussion (no luck though). Nonetheless, the body politic essentially forced a space for nonviolence to disrupt a moment of potential violence between people. Well done, friend.