Practicing Peace in Times of War, with an emphasis on Practicing

To the degree that each of us is dedicated to wanting there to be peace in the world then we have to take responsibility for when our own hearts and minds harden and close and we have to be brave enough to soften what is rigid in our hearts and find the soft spot and stay with the soft spot. We have to have that kind of courage and take that kind of responsibility and that's true spiritual warriorship. And otherwise it's just a lot of talking about "them" and not taking responsibility for ourself.
-Pema Chodron

[transcribed from the audio recording "Practicing Peace in Time of War", available from Great Path Tapes and Books]

If I could, I would just fill this entry with a full transcription of Pema Chodron's full talk. But I'd rather recommend that you listen to it, or read it, or both. For myself, I listen and re-listen to it, again and again. Moran (my wife) listens to it even more than I do, and during the 2nd Lebanon War, in 2006, while we were still living in New York City, would listen to it every day.

Last Thursday, at our weekly Dharma Gathering, the Israel Shambhala Meditation Group listened to to the full talk by Pema, after a period of sitting meditation. Afterwards, we had a period of discussion.
There were eight of us (we typically have between 8-15 people at our gatherings). We even had with us a fellow Shambhalian from Chile, who was visiting Tel Aviv and about to fly back the next day.

I can't recall all the details from the discussion, but people resonated with the understanding that how we are with our own mind, and in our personal relationships has, as Pema says, global implications. All in all, I think participants appreciated to opportunity to face the current situation in a contemplative setting.

Pema keeps returning to the phrase "when you start to practice this way....", which is key. This is not just a good idea or a comforting thought, it's a call to practice! And this practice, which is on and off the meditation cushion, is challenging. But it's the feeling of actually putting your foot on the path, which is a relief compared to just thinking about it.

So, in short, I highly recommend listening to these teachings. There is a more formal 2-CD set, a book based on these, and a single CD talk, all called Practicing Peace in Times of War. We have all three, and all three are great. The first two are available from Shambhala Publications (www.shambhala.com). The single talk, as well as full audio recordings from Pema's retreats titled Practicing Peace in Times of War, which she co-teaches with Shambhala President Richard Reoch, are available from Great Path Tapes and Books (www.pemachodrontapes.org). I mainly go back to the single CD, more raw, talk (Item A104 in the Great Path catalogue).

The plan for this week is to go back and use short segments from this talk as objects for contemplative practice.

We'll meet at our usual time and place-
Thursday (Jan 15th) at 8pm
10 Birenboim st.
Tel Aviv

My number for more info is 052-567-6577
And our email address is info@shambhala.org.il