Reading Archive (Nonviolence)
Unattainable Goal of Peace
[Nobel Lecture, June 16, 2012] The peace of our world is indivisible. As long as negative forces are getting the better of positive...
Keeping Quiet
Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still for once on the face of the earth, let’s not speak in any language;...
Processing Anger With An Open Heart
Anger is an intense and primal expression of the life force, a burning flame that cannot be ignored. It is the psyche’s alarm...
Why Do We Shout In Anger?
A saint who was once visiting a river to take a bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He...
I Have Decided to Stick With Love
I’m concerned about a better World. I’m concerned about justice; I’m concerned about brotherhood and sisterhood;...
Mercy
She asks me to kill the spider. Instead, I get the most peaceful weapons I can find. I take a cup and a napkin. I catch the spider,...
Loving Your Enemy
To love our enemies does not mean that we suddenly become their friends. If it is our enemies we are to love, they must remain enemies....
Violence and Nonviolence
"What is violence? What is nonviolence?" the Dalai Lama had once asked me in one of our interviews in Dharamsala. "Very...
The Practice Of Soft Eyes
In a sacred landscape, with its complexities and convolutions, surprise is a constant companion: it lies just around the bend or hidden...
Clear and Present Compassion
Understanding and compassion are very powerful sources of energy. They are the opposite of stupidity and passivity. If you think that...
Is There Righteous Anger Ever?
One of the most common expressions of violence is anger. When my wife or sister is attacked, I say I am righteously angry; when my...
Fueled By Love
When a parent sees their child is about to be attacked by someone, it doesn't matter how peaceful and calm they...
Spiritual Activism
I'm an environmentalist and I'm very much into cars that get high mileage and don't pollute, and I see that somebody's...
Stopping The War
The purpose of a spiritual discipline is to give us a way to stop the war, not by our force of will, but organically,...
I Have No Need For An Enemy
In passing my sentence, the judge said, “There’s no hope that you can ever be rehabilitated.” My sentence of 60-90...
A Pledge For Grateful Living
In thanksgiving for life, I pledge to overcome the illusion of entitlement by reminding myself that everything is gift and, thus, to...
Reverence Protects Life
As you work toward becoming reverent, your tendencies toward harming others and other forms of life diminish. As you acquire a sense of...
We Shall Overcome
I refuse to accept the idea that the "is-ness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal...
End Of Violence
Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we...
Moved by Love
In the Himalayas, there lived an infamous bandit named Sultana, who plundered the caravans of rich pilgrims and looted resource-rich...