segunda-feira, 29 de agosto de 2016

Do Livro Living Buddha, living Christ de Thich Nhat Hanh

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING  G ROUP
Publ i s hed by the Pengui n G roup
Pengui n G roup (USA) I nc.
375 Huds on Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

REAL COMMUNICATION
On  t he  al t ar  in  my   hermi t ag e  in  France  are  imag es  of
Buddha  and  Jesus,  and  every   t ime  I  l ig ht   incense,  I
t ouch  bot h  of  t hem  as  my   sp i ri t ual   ancest ors.  I  can  do
t hi s because of cont act  wi t h t hese real  Chri st ians. When
y ou  t ouch  someone  who  aut hent ical ly   rep resent s  a
t radi t ion,  y ou  not   only   t ouch  hi s  or  her  t radi t ion,  y ou
al so  t ouch  y our  own.  Thi s  qual i t y   i s  essent ial   for
dialog ue.  When  p art icip ant s  are  wi l l ing   t o  learn  from
each  ot her,  dialog ue  t akes  p lace  just   by   t hei r  being
t og et her . When t hose who rep resent  a sp i ri t ual  t radi t ion
embody  t he essence of t hei r t radi t ion, just  t he way  t hey
walk, si t , and smi le sp eaks volumes about  t he t radi t ion.
In  fact ,  somet imes  i t   i s  more  di fficul t   t o  have  a
dialog ue  wi t h  p eop le  in  our  own  t radi t ion  t han  wi t h
t hose  of  anot her  t radi t ion.  M ost   of  us  have  suffered
from  feel ing   mi sunderst ood  or  even  bet ray ed  by   t hose
of  our  own  t radi t ion.  But   i f  brot hers  and  si st ers  in  t he
same t radi t ion cannot  underst and and communicat e wi t h
each  ot her,  how  can  t hey   communicat e  wi t h  t hose
out side  t hei r  t radi t ion?  For  dialog ue  t o  be  frui t ful ,  we
need  t o  l ive  deep ly   our  own  t radi t ion  and,  at   t he  same
t ime,  l i st en  deep ly   t o  ot hers.  Throug h  t he  p ract ice  of
deep  looking  and deep  l i st ening , we become free, able t o
see  t he  beaut y   and  values  in  our  own and  ot hers’
t radi t ion.
M any   y ears  ag o,  I  recog niz ed  t hat   by   underst anding
y our  own  t radi t ion  bet t er,  y ou  al so  develop   increased
resp ect ,  considerat ion,  and  underst anding   for  ot hers.  I
had  had  a  naive  t houg ht ,  a  kind  of  p rejudice  inheri t ed
from  my   ancest ors.  I  t houg ht   t hat   because  Buddha  had
t aug ht   for  fort y -five  y ears  and  Jesus  for  only   t wo  or
t hree, t hat  Buddha must  have been a more accomp l i shed
t eacher .  I  had  t hat   t houg ht   because  I  did  not   know  t he
t eaching s of t he Buddha wel l  enoug h.
One  day   when  he  was  t hi rt y -eig ht   y ears  old,  t he
Buddha  met   King   Prasenaj i t   of  Kosala.  The  king   said,
“ Reverend,  y ou  are  y oung ,  y et   p eop le  cal l   y ou  ‘The
Hig hest   Enl ig ht ened  One.’   There  are  holy   men  in  our
count ry  eig ht y  and ninet y  y ears old, venerat ed by  many
p eop le,  y et   none  of  t hem  claims  t o  be  t he  hig hest
enl ig ht ened  one.  How  can  a  y oung   man  l ike  y ou  make
such a claim?”
The Buddha  rep l ied,  “ Y our majest y,  enl ig ht enment   i s
not   a  mat t er  of  ag e. A  t iny   sp ark  of  fi re  has  t he  p ower
t o  burn  down  a  whole  ci t y.  A  smal l   p oi sonous  snake
can  ki l l   y ou  in  an  inst ant .  A  baby   p rince  has  t he
p ot ent ial i t y   of  a  king .  And  a  y oung   monk  has  t he
cap aci t y   of  becoming   enl ig ht ened  and  chang ing   t he
world.”  W e  can  learn  about   ot hers  by   st udy ing
ourselves.
For  any   dialog ue  bet ween  t radi t ions  t o  be  deep ,  we
have  t o  be  aware  of  bot h  t he  p osi t ive  and  neg at ive
asp ect s of our own t radi t ion. In Buddhi sm, for ex amp le,
t here  have  been  many   schi sms.  One  hundred  y ears  aft er
t he  p assing   of  t he  Buddha,  t he  communi t y   of  hi s
di scip les  divided  int o  t wo  p art s;   wi t hin  four  hundred
y ears,  t here  were  t went y   school s;   and  since  t hen,  t here
have  been  many   more.  Fort unat ely,  t hese  sep arat ions
have,  for  t he  most   p art ,  not   been  t oo  p ainful ,  and  t he
g arden  of  Buddhi sm  i s  now  fi l led  wi t h  many   beaut i ful
flowers,  each  school   rep resent ing   an  at t emp t   t o  keep
t he  Buddha’ s  t eaching s  al ive  under  new  ci rcumst ances.
Living   org ani sms  need  t o  chang e  and  g row.  By
resp ect ing   t he  di fferences  wi t hin  our  own  church  and
seeing   how  t hese  di fferences  enrich  one  anot her,  we  are
more  op en  t o  ap p reciat ing   t he  richness  and  diversi t y   of
ot her t radi t ions.
In  a  t rue  dialog ue,  bot h  sides  are  wi l l ing   t o  chang e.
W e  have  t o  ap p reciat e  t hat   t rut h  can  be  received  from
out side  of—not   only   wi t hin—our  own  g roup .  If  we  do
not  bel ieve t hat , ent ering  int o dialog ue would be a wast e
of  t ime.  If  we  t hink  we  monop ol iz e  t he  t rut h  and  we
st i l l   org aniz e  a  dialog ue,  i t   i s  not   aut hent ic.  W e  have  t o
bel ieve  t hat   by   eng ag ing   in  dialog ue  wi t h  t he  ot her
p erson,  we  have  t he  p ossibi l i t y   of  making   a  chang e
wi t hin  ourselves,  t hat   we  can  become  deep er .  Dialog ue
i s not  a means for assimi lat ion in t he sense t hat  one side
ex p ands  and  incorp orat es  t he  ot her  int o  i t s  “ sel f.”
Dialog ue  must   be  p ract iced  on  t he  basi s  of  “ non-sel f.”
W e  have  t o  al low  what   i s  g ood,  beaut i ful ,  and
meaning ful  in t he ot her’s t radi t ion t o t ransform us.
But   t he  most   basic  p rincip le  of  int erfai t h  dialog ue  i s
t hat   t he  dialog ue  must   beg in,  fi rst   of  al l ,  wi t hin  onesel f.
Our  cap aci t y   t o  make  p eace  wi t h  anot her  p erson  and
wi t h  t he  world  dep ends  very   much  on  our  cap aci t y   t o
make  p eace  wi t h  ourselves.  If  we  are  at   war  wi t h  our
p arent s,  our  fami ly,  our  societ y,  or  our  church,  t here  i s
p robably   a  war  g oing   on  inside  us  al so,  so  t he  most
basic work for p eace  i s  t o ret urn  t o ourselves and creat e
harmony   among   t he  element s  wi t hin  us—our  feel ing s,
our  p ercep t ions,  and  our ment al   st at es. That   i s why   t he
p ract ice  of  medi t at ion,  looking   deep ly,  i s  so  imp ort ant .
W e  must   recog niz e  and  accep t   t he  confl ict ing   element s
t hat   are  wi t hin  us  and  t hei r  underly ing   causes.  It   t akes
t ime,  but   t he  effort   alway s  bears  frui t .  When  we  have
p eace wi t hin, real  dialog ue wi t h ot hers i s p ossible.

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