Dear ones, 

It is heartbreaking and hard to bear as we receive the news from Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Darfur, Myanmar, Ukraine, Yemen and more.

Recently, there are many posts on my sites, asking me to take a stand, especially in regards to the immense suffering and violence that has been happening in Gaza, Israel and Palestine.

My experience in doing peace work in Cambodia and Vietnam, in standing up for the targeted  Rohingya in the monasteries of Myanmar, in standing together with Muslim and Jewish and Christian leaders and peace workers across Palestine and Israel and doing peace work elsewhere has taught me one thing: 

Most people want peace….. They long for ways to live in peace, to stop the fires of violence and revenge, of fear and the killing of others.

As my beloved friend Mahaghosananda of Cambodia chanted while he led thousands in peace walks back to their homes across the killing fields (after all 19 members of his family were killed and his village was destroyed)…

“Hatred never ceases by hatred.

But by love alone is healed

This is the ancient and eternal law.

         Dhammapada

The stand I take is for the stand for peace”

And—

In the words of Rabbi Irwin Keller…

“Today I am taking sides.

I am taking the side of Peace.

Peace, which I will not abandon
even when its voice is drowned out
by hurt and hatred,
bitterness of loss,
cries of right and wrong.

I am taking the side of Peace
whose name has barely been spoken
in this winnerless war.

I will hold Peace in my arms,
and share my body’s breath,
lest Peace be added
to the body count.

I will call for de-escalation
even when I want nothing more
than to get even.
I will do it
in the service of Peace.

I will make a clearing
in the overgrown
thicket of cause and effect
so Peace can breathe
for a minute
and reach for the sky.

I will do what I must
to save the life of Peace.
I will breathe through tears.
I will swallow pride.
I will bite my tongue.
I will offer love
without testing for deservingness.

So don’t ask me to wave a flag today
unless it is the flag of Peace.
Don’t ask me to sing an anthem
unless it is a song of Peace.
Don’t ask me to take sides
unless it is the side of Peace.“

I have asked my social media team to remove the many impassioned posts that call for taking another kind of stand. I want our site to be a zone of peace, and encourage all who wish to stand up in every form, to act and care and do so with love.

With the deepest metta for all beings,
Jack