Respecting each others beliefs
I took my daughter to Battersea Park we visited the Peace Pagoda it should have been a lovely visit. The sun was shining and it was indeed peaceful...
We then heard some shouting their was a Tibetan cleaner who looks after his buddha and cares for it... Anyway some young tourists came and began to climb all over it, and he shouted
at them "Please come down" Over and over for about 15 minutes he was so upset..
The young man in question did not and walked all around it the cleaner getting more and more frustrated.
Buddhist people do not usually resort to anger or violence even though he was upset the man still shouted "Please come down your are making me angry." Another man threatened the man who was shouting while another was trying to explain to the young man he was wrong.
Anyway the parks police were called for and the young man got down. I was thinking how disrespectful this act was... for the Tibetan man and maybe the young man being ignorant... It made me think and made me a little sad to to think that this is what we have come to... I am a
Christian but i try to be tolerant of other peoples beliefs we live in a multicultural society especially where i live and we all have to respect each others beliefs... or learn to anyway i mean that is what Peace is all about... Peace that passeth all understanding... we all have to learn to be more tolerant of one another and like the pop song
Where is the Love? if it does not come from us... Daisy.
In the world I live in, it's
In the world I live in, it's hard to imagine such disrespect, Daisy. I don't understand why the boys would do that. What was the fun in it?
I know what an embracing person you are. I like that you use the word respect.
The word tolerant has always bothered me! What is it someone is to tolerate or be tolerant of? What difference does it make to anyone else what someone believes or not? Why would anyone be opposed to the peace that Buddhists have great faith in? Or American Indian beliefs or Judaism or anything at all. It seems so silly to me.
There was once a study done with elementary school children. For the experiment, the blue-eyed children were considered better than the brown-eyed. It wasn't real. Everyone knew it wasn't real. The children knew. Nevertheless, it got serious. The blue eyes accepted they were superior and soon demeaned the brown-eyed. Later the roles were reversed. Brown eyes were "in." And the same thing happened.
Where does this need to feel superior come from?
Thanks so much for all the heart and wisdom you bring to the forum, dear Daisy.
With love and blessings,
Gloria
Further thoughts tolerant is
Further thoughts tolerant is perhaps the wrong word... It is more a getting along with other people and respecting yes other people's beliefs, Yes and i don't mean to sound superior because their is no peace in being superior, I think the boys were just to them having some fun in climbing.
I don't even think they realised what they were doing.. was showing any disrespect... but i do certainly believe we need to respect each others beliefs....and to have understanding that people have different beliefs other than our own.
I don't like the word tolerant either but perhaps it is more of having understanding and being compassionate of others... maybe rather than tolerance.
Is it Battersea Park in
Is it Battersea Park in London?
Your post reminds me of a piece I wrote recently called "Consideration." I noticed a sign on the bus encouraging people to listen to music with their headsets.
I find it's very easy to show consideration or be compassionate when you know your nature is peace. What does it matter whether someone is screaming or playing loud music when their actions have no impact on me?
As for the boys you mentioned, I would imagine they were just having fun just like people listening to loud music are simply having fun.
Good topic. Thanks for sharing.
With love,
EJ
Thanks for your kind reply
Thanks for your kind reply and yes Battersea Park London... Luv Daisy.
You say a profound thing
You say a profound thing when you say it's easy to be compassionate when you know your nature is peace -- and when you're at that place where you can live it.
To my mind, Vector 8, it's far different for someone to be inconsiderate playing loud music than it is to dishonor a Buddha, especially when a sweet soul for whom the Buddha has great meaning has asked you to please stop.
The boys were having fun? I don't get what the fun is in hurting someone's heart. The boys were making fun of a gentle soul and to, what, for him, is a religious object.
When I taught junior high school, I never had a boy who wouldn't know better. To my mind, ridiculing anyone for anything is simply not okay, period.
I don't know what I would have done if I had been there. Was everyone waiting for someone else to do something? Maybe there could have been a friendly way to stop them.
What would Christ have done? Perhaps he would have done what he did with the money-changers in the church. Or maybe by his consciousness alone, the boys would have stopped, simply unable to continue.
My first response is that
My first response is that that the young man who ignored the person asking him to come off the statue is insensitive, inexcusably so. Yet perhaps he needs more compassion than the statue-guardian, for his state of woeful ignorance and self-preoccupation? I heard a beautiful lecture last night by a person who practices Buddhism. From it I got the idea that we should regard our passions (such as anger) as a sign of where we may most need to grow in wisdom and compassion. Can we become consistently compassionate, even when things most dear to us are attacked?
You sure make a great point,
You sure make a great point, Visiting Angel.
Can one not be compassionate AND take action? What would Christ do?
Thanks a bunch for posting.
This is great your wonderful
This is great your wonderful comments as for getting involved my
daughter and I had walked away from the scene before the commotion. There were enough people there and we were buying an ice cream while the event took place... The Parks Police were
called and as soon as the boy saw the police car he got off the statue.Knowing he would have some explaining to do? My daughter made a point and said if he was a tourist he might not have spoken any English and not understood so that is another
view...
I like to think the police would just have talked to them and let them go with a warning, for perhaps disturbing the Peace...
but I am glad to say Peace returned to the area...
and to me and that is how it should be...
Excellent point. Thanks for
Excellent point. Thanks for sharing.
How do you know they were
How do you know they were hurting someone's heart, Gloria?
[[What would Christ have done? ]]
If by Christ you are referring to Jesus then Jesus teaches:
"Judge not according to appearances but judge righteous judgment." (John 7: 24)
If I were present I would accept what was going on without judging the boys' actions as good or bad or right or wrong. Second, I would trust that omnipresent Love is ALWAYS working out perfectly for the good of all, though it may not appear that way when one is in a place of judgment.
Cheers.
EJ
Message deleted.
Message deleted.
Dear Enocia, I hope you
Dear Enocia,
I hope you don't mind we disagree a little in public. We are both are on the side of love. I think this is a lovely discussion.
Wasn't the Buddhist man hurt by the disrespect to the Buddha statue? And the disrespect to him as a human being and as an elder?
I know Jesus said not to judge. But didn't he go into action and tear down the temple? He didn't sit idly by as if it were okay.
There is no way for me to know what I would have done if I had been there. It might have taken me a while before what was going on even sank in to me. And maybe it would have been all over before I even thought to do anything. And maybe I would have stood there wanting to do something and simply not knowing what to do, or thinking it wasn't my place to do anything, or maybe spontaneously the right thing would have occurred to me. Maybe it would have been effective, or maybe not.
I believe I would have felt more self-respect if I had done something.
Maybe if we were all in our love enough, the boy would have come down or never even gone up on the statue.
I know that when I taught school -- a different situation -- I did not allow unkindness in my classroom. It was not okay. And the children became very kind, and they were kind to me too. Not perfect, but kind.
Sometimes there would be a fight in the hall, and I would always stop just by getting in the middle of it.
People have stood around a tree to prevent its being chopped down. They weren't sitting around saying it was okay to chop down the tree.
Ghandi was a man of peace and great compassion, but everyone knew exactly what his values were.
Maybe someone can express better than I am what I'm trying to say.
Thank you for your comments
Thank you for your comments about self respect and exactly the original point i was trying to say and yes both my daughter and I would have got involved but we were quite far away by the time the incident took place and by that time the police turned up to deal with the commotion effectively and am glad that
peace returned to the site... in retrospect... this is how the Peace Pagoda should be remembered.. Daisy
Why would I mind us
Why would I mind us disagreeing in public? I can only share how I see things which you may or may not agree with. Only then am I being myself.
Thanks for sharing your perspective.
With love,
EJ
Little did i realise this
Little did i realise this topic would get so much response! I thought it would be an item of interest. I am grateful to hear everyone's views and i am glad vector 8 has shared his view and we can all only ever share things from our own point of view I am interested to hear what other people have to say...
Peace, and Joy Daisy