Another Goodbye to Another Good Friend

Volume 28. June 6, 2022

Guitar god Keith Richards probably put it best when he sang:

“Here’s another goodbye to another good friend.”

The school year ended on a sad note in Uvalde, Texas. 

Blood splattered across blackboards. Traumatized survivors running for their lives. Frantic parents crying on the sidewalk. Screams of agony. Nineteen innocent children and two teachers robbed of life at Robb Elementary School.  

Another senseless spray of bullets. Another splattering of blood.

Another goodbye to another good friend.

How does a Buddha approach the horror of gun violence? 

With compassion, meditation and wisdom.  

For kids lamenting lost classmates, for parents aching for lost children, there is only one balm: compassion. Buddhas “suffer with” the disconsolate. 

Buddhas also meditate. 

The mighty Buddhist philosopher Ashvaghosa had this spiritual advice, “One’s mind should become like a mirror, reflecting things but not judging them or retaining them.”

When we meditate, we realize that nothing is right and nothing is wrong. Only thinking makes it so. 

Meditation and compassion are two legs upon which the liberating body of Buddhist wisdom stands. 

Wisdom is to look at the world and see emptiness. Return to the Holy Thusness. Stick with the Sweet Tathagata. One thing is sure: The Mind is pure. Nirvana can’t be separated from anything because everything is empty. 

Whatever the senses apprehend resembles an illusion. Entertain one thought or sensation and you abandon unity for duality. 

Suffering is the hallmark of the human condition. It’s what you signed up for when you chose to be reborn. 

Suffering exists only in duality. But there is a way out of suffering: Compassion, mediation and wisdom. 

Once upon a time, the Lord of Unity said, “Have compassion for this so-called world. It’s actually nothing.” 

Then he pronounced magic words, “Impermanence, Peace, Calm, Non-attachment, No-self.”

The magic words had a disconcerting effect on dictators, despots, shooters and self-centered people everywhere. But they had a salutary effect on everyone else. 

And the Lion lied down with the Lamb. 

Guitar Lion King Keith Richards sings at the end of his song:  

“I’m gonna find my way to heaven, ‘cause I did my time in hell.” 

Buddhas, we have done our time in hell. 

Let’s follow the path to nirvana, and hope others will too.