Moral Monday Reflection Steve Lee People that know me will tell you that my views on our political

system and our system of public education are extreme: I believe that both are dysfunctional beyond salvation and have been since well before the Republican victories in the N !eneral "ssembly in #$%#& In all but local races' the duopoly of Republicans and (emocrats has mer)ed with*or been captured by*the monied interests' and the common )ood has lon) been abandoned& In the sphere of public education' the century+lon)' insane approach of usin) factory methods of instruction ,)iven that we know that learnin) is a hi)hly individual undertakin)- has been captured by the same monied interests' and the few' moderate past' successes of our system of public education have faded& I could spend pa)es*even volumes*substantiatin) these claims' but that.s not my point ri)ht now& Suffice it to say that those views outlined above are my present take on politics and education& I am politically independent' skeptical of most or)ani/ed politics' and critical of the foundational approach to instruction evidenced in our public education system' re)ardless of fundin) issues& 0hy then' did I choose to participate in the Moral Monday protests in Ralei)h on 1une 2rd' in which I 3oined with over %'4$$ people to decry the lawmakin) a)enda of the Republican+led !eneral "ssembly' dismantlin) the public school system of North arolina' restrictin) votin) ri)hts' and consi)nin) thousands to deeper poverty5 666666666 7ecause the answer to that 8uestion is hi)hly personal' I.ll defer my answer for a moment to tell you a bit more about myself& I am a person )uided by a Southern 7aptist upbrin)in)' years spent in the Lutheran hurch' and my study of 7uddhist teachin)s& "s I study 7uddhism' what I find in the consensus 7uddhism of the 0est is a tendency to retreat into the safety of the work of personal awakenin)9 the focus is mostly on the work of personal transformation& :ven in the Mahayana traditions*dedicated to the awakenin) of all bein)s and not 3ust to self* the emphasis is on awakenin) and transformation of the individual& In short' there seems to be a resistance in 7uddhist analysis of our condition to the reality that much of the sufferin) in the modern world is actually caused by other people& ;es' those people may be i)norant and in need of awakenin) themselves' but in the meantime' they create intolerable conditions for others& ,7y the way' it is true that my study and practice teach me new ways of relating to that sufferin)+ caused+by+others' but they don.t teach me much about how to confront or work for the chan)e in the circumstances that lead to that sufferin)& !handi has been my teacher there<=here are several exceptions' of course' to this consensus 7uddhist disinterest in social chan)e& =he authors (avid Loy and 1oanna Macy are on the forefront of 7uddhists workin) for social chan)e' and a few or)ani/ations such as =he 7uddhist Peace >ellowship are active in the ?en)a)ed 7uddhism@ movement& In )eneral' however' the thrust of consensus 7uddhism is individual transformation over the transformation of society&

onsensus 7uddhism comes by this thrust naturally& =he 7uddhist suttas )o to )reat len)ths to point out that sufferin) is individual in essence' primarily arisin) in the mind& =he famous Rohitassa Sutta' "N A&AB' )oes so far to su))est that the world arises in the mind: Yet it is just within this fathom-long body, with its perception & intellect, that I declare that there is the cosmos, the origination of the cosmos, the cessation of the cosmos, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the cosmos. =his sutta e8uates the mind world with the world of sufferin)& (are I say it5 I find this stance to be inadequate to the challenges of living in a human society& Cur sufferin) is both internalDmental and externalDphysical' and others play a )reat part ,by virtue of their i)norance- in creatin) acute sufferin) for their brothers and sisters& In short' I fully support the idea that I need to wake up9 I fully support the Mayahana ideal that I should help others to wake up9 but I also feel a stron) need to work for the cessation of the sufferin) that the unawakened wreak on others& 666666666 In the words of the 7uddhist poet !ary Snyder' in an essay called ?7uddhist "narchism@ written in %E4%' workin) solely for my own liberation is a form of self+absorption: No one today can afford to be innocent, or indulge himself in ignorance of the nature of contemporary governments, politics and social orders. The national polities of the modern world maintain their e istence by deliberately fostered craving and fear! monstrous protection rac"ets. The #free world$ has become economically dependent on a fantastic system of stimulation of greed which cannot be fulfilled, se ual desire which cannot be satiated and hatred which has no outlet e cept against oneself, the persons one is supposed to love, or the revolutionary aspirations of pitiful, poverty-stric"en marginal societies li"e %uba or &ietnam. I.ll )o one step further: I want to work to for the cessation of the sufferin) wrou)ht by the unawakened' and I want to demonstrate to consensus 7uddhists to take their 7uddhism off the ni)htstand' off the meditation cushion' and brin) it to the street& I do this in full awareness that if I am an activist while bein) cau)ht up in the )oal' the movement' or the result' then I am retardin) my own development' my own unfoldin) path to liberation& In short' I need to find a balance amon) three tasks: the practice of personal liberation' the practice of servin) the liberation of others' and the everyday work of challen)in) the people and institutions that brin) harm to others& "ll three of these tasks re8uire embodiment' the work of bein) a mind in a body' the work of bein) in a place and time' and finallyF seein) that mind clearly& " key component of this clarity is the reco)nition of our interconnectedness and interrelatedness& =he essential 7uddhist concepts of impermanence' dependent ori)ination' and anatman all point towards our

fundamental interdependence& =his interdependence is expressed in the 7uddhist metaphor of ?Indra.s Net'@ described thusly by =imothy 7rook in Germeer.s Hat: 'uddhism uses a similar image to describe the interconnectedness of all phenomena. It is called Indra(s Net. )hen Indra fashioned the world, he made it as a web, and at every "not in the web is tied a pearl. *verything that e ists, or has ever e isted, every idea that can be thought about, every datum that is true+every dharma, in the language of Indian philosophy+is a pearl in Indra(s net. Not only is every pearl tied to every other pearl by virtue of the web on which they hang, but on the surface of every pearl is reflected every other jewel on the net. *verything that e ists in Indra(s web implies all else that e ists. Interestin) that Indra is the (eva of Heedfulness& 7ecause takin) heed is what Moral Mondays is all about& " purpose of Moral Monday is to remind participants and the N !eneral "ssembly to take heed of our interdependence& " purpose of Moral Monday is to remind us that' yes' we are indeed our brother.s keeper& "nd a purpose of Moral Monday is to embody those two notions' standin) as a united body in the face of the le)islative body& Moral Monday calls out to the !eneral "ssembly to be mindful of the harm that is brou)ht by our heedlessness and our disre)ard for interdependence& 0ill the protests be effective5 0as my time well+served in )oin)5 No one knows& 7ut*in an a)e when we for)et' in an a)e when interdependence is poisoned by the )reed' hatred' and delusion of a political culture co+opted by narrow corporate interests' and in an a)e of self+ absorptionF In this a)e' the reality of our interconnectedness must be remembered' embodied' and championed& =hat is why I went to Ralei)h& =o champion our interdependence& =o show consensus 7uddhists that social en)a)ement is a crucial need' 3ust as crucial as my own awakenin)' as their own awakenin)& =o embody the need to work for the prevention or end of the sufferin) of the many who would be ne)lected by the few in power& I went because I heard !ary Snyder.s call: There is nothing in human nature or the re,uirements of human social organi-ation which intrinsically re,uires that a culture be contradictory, repressive and productive of violent and frustrated personalities. .ecent findings in anthropology and psychology ma"e this more and more evident. /ne can prove it for himself by ta"ing a good loo" at his own nature through meditation. /nce a person has this much faith and insight, he must be led to a deep concern with the need for radical social change through a variety of hopefully non-violent means. I went to Ralei)h out of deep concern&