Devadatta was the Buddha's cousin. Although he had renounced the worldly life and joined the Buddhist Sangha, he did want to abide by its rules. He even plotted against the Buddha.
One day, the Buddha arrived a Rajagraha, and in an attempt to harm the Buddha, Devadatta let loose a drunken elephant. Everyone on the street was terrified by the out if control animal. Only the Buddha and his disciples remained calm and poised.
The drunken elephant was moved by the Buddha's loving-kindness and compassion. It did not hurt the Buddha, but instead, bowed down before him in submission.
Questions to Ponder: Who is plotting now? Who does not want to follow the rules of the community? Who is using the GOP elephant? Who is remaining calm and poised? Who will be able to bring that drunken elephant into submission?
An imaginary conversation between a questioning Obama supporter and Dr. King. (All words of Dr. King are from his own quotes.)
Q: The campaign has changed now. We are being attacked and unfairly attacked. We need to fight back.
K: The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Q: Don’t we have a right to justice? We need to set the record straight.
K: As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence. If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.
Q: But the other side is saying lies.
K: Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
Q: We may have lost Ohio and Texas because of the lies and distortions.
K: We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
Q: So are you saying we just don’t do anything?
K: Man is man because he is free to operate within the framework of his destiny. He is free to deliberate, to make decisions, and to choose between alternatives. He is distinguished from animals by his freedom to do evil or to do good and to walk the high road of beauty or tread the low road of ugly degeneracy.
Q: The high road! Are you kidding? Look what they are doing in their attack ads! We need to attack back.
K: Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Q: So we don’t fight back?
K: The strong man is the man who can stand up for his rights and not hit back.
Q: I am not going to hit them, but…
K: …nonviolent resistance…avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit.
Q: I’m confused. Are you saying just lay down and do nothing?
K: On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.
Q: That is hard to do. We need to stand up for what is right. We need to be strong.
K: The strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites. The idealists are usually not realistic, and the realists are not usually idealistic. The militant are not generally known to be passive, nor the passive to be militant. Seldom are the humble self-assertive, or the self-assertive humble. But life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.
Q: We can’t be soft or weak with the opponent we face.
K: When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.
Q: But I am loosing hope that we can win.
K: If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.
Q: Can this way really work?
A: I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word
Dr. King said that “We shall have to do more than register and more than vote; we shall have to create leaders who embody virtues we can respect, who have moral and ethical principles we can applaud with enthusiasm.” Barack Obama is that leader.
We are all reading posts calling for "getting dirty," "hitting back," and other comments along those lines. Just some reminders from a great soul:
Hatred ever kills, love never dies; such is the vast difference between the two. What is obtained by love is retained for all time. What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality for it increases hatred. (When we hit back at the other side we do not get closer to seeing the change that Senator Obama envisions.)
An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind. (And we need clarity of vision now more than ever.)
To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that the one that must be loved is not a friend. (Yes, there will be attack ads, but we are called to love Hillary Clinton even when we are attacked.)
What kind of victory is it when someone is left defeated? (Let us focus on hope and the message of change, not on the defeating of Senator Clinton. Keep it positive!)
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. (Doesn't this remind you of where we are in the campaign? Pre-Iowa ignoring Obama, then mocking his speeches, now the down and dirty fighting, and soon the victory.)
Be the change that you want to see in the world. (We all can be part of this new and exciting movement for change if now, right now, we become the change we want to see.)
