As you switch on the news or scroll your feeds, remember: this is what we’ve practiced for. This is the world that Bodhisattvas are called to save. And if you’re doubting who you should side with, the answer has always been simple: the one suffering the most. 

 

By Johnathon Lee

I was filling with sorrow and frustration before the election. 

People were driving me nuts, drowning out life’s delicate melodies with ear-piercing noise. I didn’t write much about it because I wasn’t going to convince anyone to see things differently. I practiced patience and temperance instead. I voted blue across the board since the Greens weren’t on the ballot in Illinois. 

Glued to my phone for the night, I sat helplessly as the map started to bleed. It wasn’t just that Trump was elected that worried me, it was the complete takeover of the government that did it. Democracy can’t function in a one party state. 

I thought of my loved ones. I thought of the millions of people who were at risk now. I thought of goose-stepping jackboots, mandatory salutes and families disappeared into the forests and deserts. Is that an overreaction? Thinking it is is what allows it to happen. 

I went to bed, but failed at sleeping. As the hours passed, my mind turned over.  This wasn’t about me anymore. This wasn’t even just about my loved ones. It’s everyone everywhere. 

“What can I do?” came crashing through me again. This time, I had an answer. “Help. Use every tool you have. All of your words. All of your gentleness and feistiness. Do it now.” 

I got up and got to work.

I created support groups, wrote manifestos, made social media accounts to parody the Alt-Right. I’ve renewed my ordination with an online ministry so that I can perform marriages for same-sex couples. I am setting aside funds to donate to Planned Parenthood, the NAACP. I’ve liberalized the online Sangha I teach at. 

I’m researching what the new administration is wanting to do and then informing the moderate conservatives I know. So many people voted Trump because they agreed with him on one issue and ignored the rest of his stated platform. They treated this like a normal election. 

It wasn’t. 

I was never going to persuade them before the vote, but I can tell them what’s going to happen now and then they’ll see for themselves. What’s going to happen is that someone they love is going to suffer. Then they’ll see. When they see what’s going down, they’ll have the chance to stand up. 

I’m not trying to virtue signal here. The longing for a good life where I could make a living by writing, by falling in love and starting a family, or finally accepting the face in the mirror—that’s all gone. This is suffering is bigger than me. My own white, straight, cis male pain is nothing compared to it. 

My shallow, fragile little world couldn’t bear it. Then, just as Buddha pointed out, compassion is peace. 

Those of us in the in-group, those who will not be targeted by this Brave New World, must resist. We must dig in our heels and use ourselves as shields, and with each new totalitarian policy, cry out, “No!” as a single roaring voice. “No” is distilled Buddhadharma. It’s the step that paves the Middle Way, the seed that spouts into all of the healthiest karmic fruits. 

As you switch on the news or scroll your feeds, remember: this is what we’ve practiced for. This is the world that Bodhisattvas are called to save. And if you’re doubting who you should side with, the answer has always been simple: the one suffering the most. 

We have a few months to process our grief and prepare ourselves for catastrophe. Then we must act, bringing our cushions with us as we stand together as a Refuge. 

Take care, friends. 

 

Photo: Pixabay

Editor: Dana Gornall

 

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