The Buddha's Peaceful Protest

Seven, Amber Dorrian, CC Liu (Wisdom Quarterly)
(serenescentsations.com)

Peaceful demonstrations, anti-war protests, sit ins, teach ins, and the like have a long history in Buddhism. The Buddha's own life holds one great example that may have been the model for Burma's Saffron Revolution as Buddhist monks rose up to defy the totalitarian Burmese regime. He repeatedly and peacefully came between two neighboring kingdoms to prevent war. He occupied a spot by the river to bring peace. Eventually, however, he realized that their karma was such that he could only put it off. He had the penetrating insight to eventually realize that. We do not. So we are wise to continue our demonstrations indefinitely.

What peace looks like, which is what NYC's Z Park can look like if the peace is won.

• Thus have I heard. At one time petty squabbles arose between the farmers on both sides of the Rohini river. The river served as the boundary between the Shakyan [where Siddhartha grew up before setting off on a spiritual quest] and the Koliyan kingdoms. Each side was trying to divert as much water as possible to their fields. Finally, these conflicts led to a major confrontation between two armies. The Buddha becoming aware of this arrived on the scene. At first just his presence forced the sides eager for war to rethink their actions. But their selfishness, anger/fear at one another, and ignorance about what was to be lost as a result of war brought them again to the verge of war.
  

The Buddha's "sit in" on the Rohini river to prevent war became a "teach in."

• The Buddha exhorted them on the calamitous results of war and the many advantages of arriving at a peaceful resolution and just settlement. In this way, war was averted and peace restored. It is said that the Buddha has so far been the only religious teacher to visit a battlefront in person to act as a mediator that averts war which, once triggered, never really plays itself out. People, groups, and ideologies want to retaliate even centuries later. Why? It is because the roots (greed, hate/fear, delusion) that led to war have not been addressed at all.

"The people united will never be defeated," Zuccoiti Park patriots chanted as they continued to occupy a corporate creation for peace and economic justice.

War is exhausting itself. Peace is a rest. Peace is easy. Peace is natural. War opposes peace. Peace does NOT really oppose war: It just is. Peace that "opposes" war is not peace, just more war.

Peace is a state in the absence of conflicts. Nonconflict is just a base, not a goal in itself. Beyond peace we want harmony, happiness, growth, development, opposition, cultural evolution.

Conflict is neither good or bad except that what we do with it (how we respond) makes it so. What is the cause of war and peace? Each is due to the various motives in our heart/mind.

The happy resolution (repose) of thoughts that fall under the categories of greed, hate, and/or delusion certainly lead to peace. Permanent peace will only come when one has completely eradicated these mental defilements. Wars will cease and peaceful dialogue between individuals will lead to a world of peaceful and harmonious living.

• Occupy Together: The American Autumn gets heated
• Occupy Wall Street rediscovers radical imagination

Why Occupy, why Rebel?

Protesting Wall Street (video)

Occupywallst.org, Facebook.com/event

Wall Street Protesters Violently Attacked - Medical Treatment Denied! Video shot by "Bucky Turco" and uploaded at animalnewyork.com; thanks to MrGlasgwTruther4U (SurvivalWithBushcraf, Sept. 20, 2011)

Police attack. Rights defenders say human needs corporate Wall Street greed. A police state would side with paramilitary riot control forces. On "Occupation of Wall Street" Day Four, part of the "American Revolution II."

With a total of eight arrests, six on Monday, civil rights lawyers were on the scene at noon Tuesday after police reportedly raided the protesting human rights defenders' peaceful encampment leaving one in critical condition. Others were thrown to the ground. The rest of the world is kept in the dark by the illegal confiscation of livestream.com equipment.

• Occupywallst.org/media/OccupyWallSt-Orientation-Guide.PDF

Occupy Wall Street issued a report near midday Tuesday stating they "hope police did not murder" the man having an asthma attack as a group of police officers attacked him and ignored medics saying he needed an ambulance.

"One of the medics on site informed the police that they needed to call an ambulance because this was a potentially fatal circumstance. They ignored him. We have no current information on this protester, but we hope that he hasn't been murdered by the police," reported Occupy Wall Street, an initiative driven collectively without a leader.

• See YouTube video of police raid

"Anonymous has issued a series of statements alleging police have increased their presence," reported IB Times around noon Tuesday.

(Optisoft12, on Sept. 17, 2011) Thousands of protesters are taking to the streets to kick off the Occupy Wall Street protests. Police herded them like cattle. And the media blacked it out. Protesters remained peaceful.

• Live Feed: livestream.com/globalrevolution
• Live Feed: ustream.tv/channel/occupy-u-s
  
• NOTE: On September 17th, 1787, 42 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention held their final meeting. Only one item of business occupied the agenda that day -- signing the Constitution of the United States of America: usgovinfo.about.com/blconstday.htm

"Two members of [the] Occupy Wall Street media team and another person arrested for trying to use a tarp to protect communications equipment from rain," read the AnonOps tweet according to IB Times.

After arrests were made for wearing masks and writing on sidewalks with sidewalk chalk, The New York Times reported late Monday. "In a continuation of the demonstrations that began Saturday, nearly 200 protesters marched along Wall Street and other parts of the financial district Monday morning, brandishing American flags and signs denouncing the economic system. At least six of them were arrested."

"The first three arrests came on Pine Street, when a police lieutenant ordered that two men wearing ski masks be taken into custody. Officers then arrested a woman wearing a plastic mask on the back of her head."

"The next arrest came a few minutes later on when a deputy inspector standing on Wall Street ordered a man wearing an orange hat to keep moving. The man, who had turned around in a crowded sidewalk just west of Broad Street, spoke to the inspector for a moment, then lifted his hands and said that he was having difficulty moving" (NY Times).

According to the Times, what its reporters saw conflicts with what police stated about one arrest:

"Another man was arrested, and the police initially said he was charged with jumping a police barrier and resisting arrest. But a reporter and a photographer for The Times who witnessed and documented the episode between the man in the orange hat and the police did not see him attempting to jump a barrier. Late in the afternoon, the police said the man was charged with committing disorderly conduct by impeding pedestrian traffic, not with jumping a barrier.

Using a megaphone, police had told the rights defenders they needed to take camping tarps down "but did not deliver an order signifying anyone would be under arrest and held responsible for 'not properly' complying according to Firedog Lake that is also monitoring Tweets, the protesters main source of communicating.

Occupy Wall Street reported:

"The first arrest was a protester who objected to the police removing a tarp that was protecting our media equipment from the rain. The police said that the tarp constituted a tent, in spite of it not being a habitat in any way. Police continued pressuring protesters with extralegal tactics, saying that a protester on a bullhorn was breaking a law. The protester refused to cease exercising his first amendment rights and was also arrested.

"Then the police began to indiscriminately attempt to arrest protesters, many of them unsheathed their batons, in spite of the fact that the protest remained peaceful.

"One of the protesters received a large gash on the leg, another lost a tooth.

"Multiple police tackled a protester and sat on him as he continually warned them that he was experiencing an asthma attack. One of the medics on site informed the police that they needed to call an ambulance because this was a potentially fatal circumstance.

"They ignored him. We have no current information on this protester, but we hope that he hasn't been murdered by the police." More

Protesting Torture at Ringling Brothers' Circus

Wisdom Quarterly

(OfficialPETA) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal's 2009 investigation of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus found that workers were beating, electro-shocking, whipping, tying, and hooking elephants and striking tigers. Shocking footage shows the torment behind animal circuses that exploit animals. (The same or worse holds true for rodeos). What can compassionate people do? It's easy. Avoid circuses. There is no need to demonstrate on the streets as activists are doing today July 20, 2011 in downtown Los Angeles as Ringling Brothers attempts to begin a stint of animal-exploitation shows. There is no need to write letters or boycott a company. Simply stay home if a visit to a circus was planned.

• RinglingBeatsAnimals.com

LA Protesters Stand Up to Circus

(Repenney)

Last year nearly 300 anti-cruelty advocates and activists came together at the Staples Center to protest the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus.

This circus has frequently come under attack from activists and authorities alike for its pattern of abuse and cruelty towards captive animals forced to perform demeaning entertainments, suffer in cages, lacking sufficient exercise, nutrition, and care. The elephants are showing signs of arthritis as a result.

Ringling Bros. has been cited and fined numerous times for animal cruelty. In a moment of bitter irony the LA police attempted to arrest an LCA activist for displaying a "bullhook," a device frequently used to torment elephants by Ringling Bros.

"We don't want to shut down the circus," one activist was heard to say. "We just want them to eliminate the use of animals." Note: Cirque du Soleil, Bindlestiff Family Circus, and The Little Russian Circus are all animal-free.

Annual Protests Until Reform
In spite of being cited and fined by the USDA for animal cruelty, Ringling Bros continues to profit from its abuses. Members of groups participating in the protest included ISSAC, OCPA, IDA, LCA, PETA Los Angeles, Animal Defenders International, and ASPCA among many others. For much of the time, the protesters outnumbered the circus-goers waiting in line at the venue.

Trainers cruelly wrestle baby elephants using ropes, sharp
hooks, and electric shocks to force them to do tricks. More

• Project Nim: Tormenting animals for "science"