Compassion for the Mosquito

Human evolution and the annoyance of the mosquito has been the topic of a lot of conversations here in Vietnam these days. "Why is it so annoying" someone asked "if it did not sing with a flute and make me itch after it bite I would not care so much about it".

What biologists tell us is that the itchiness and annoyance from the sound is our own body's reaction for dealing with the mosquito. Our ancestors who were the most annoyed and bothered by mosquitos were most likely to survive. - They did not get malaria, did not get sickness and die and therefore they were most likely to reproduce and make more humans. - We are the children of these ancient humans, the ones who were the most annoyed. Our bodies, which get a swelling itchy spot from the bite, and wake up in the middle of the night to swat and scratch are a gift from our ancestors. The bodies that gave them the most happiness and the easiest life are the bodies we have now.

What about fleas, bedbugs, mites, lice. Clearly what they all want is what we want: to be comfortable, to live well, to do what comes next. Are they compassionate in that quest? They sacrifice and risk life to our swatting and scratching so that they can give life to their children. Do they also make sacrifices for us? For the birds? As they die and become food for birds which sing and fly and inspire us.

Do they show appreciation? As they fly away full and singing...

Though the Buddha said this about annoying people, it is still instructive for dealing with mosquitoes:

Five ways to stop being annoyed from the Aghatapativinaya Sutta:

Loving-kindness
Compassion
Onlooking equanimity
Forgetting and ignoring
Ownership of deeds

'This good person is owner of his deeds, heir to his deeds, his deeds are the womb from which he is born, his deeds are his kin for whom he is responsible, his deeds are his refuge, he is heir to his deeds, be they good or bad.'

- Buddha (Aghatapativinaya Sutta)

Kuan Yin's Prayer for the Abuser

We just listened to a Scottish Zen buddhist Minister Jana Drakka giving a talk at the San Francisco Zen Center.

She spent some time being homeless with PTSD after a bad relationship and spoke from her experience and from her practice about how to practice loving kindness even with difficult people. 

This seemed an appropriate poem, a kind of meditation to start the fire breathing dragon year. 

Kuan Yin's Prayer for the Abuser

To those who withhold refuge,

I cradle you in safety at the core of my Being.

To those that cause a child to cry out,

I grant you the freedom to express your own choked agony.

To those that inflict terror,

I remind you that you shine with the purity of a thousand suns.

To those who would confine, suppress, or deny,

I offer the limitless expanse of the sky.

To those who need to cut, slash, or burn,

I remind you of the invincibility of Spring.

To those who cling and grasp,

I promise more abundance than you could ever hold onto.

To those who vent their rage on small children,

I return to you your deepest innocence.

To those who must frighten into submission,

I hold you in the bosom of your original mother.

To those who cause agony to others,

I give the gift of free flowing tears.

To those that deny another's right to be,

I remind you that the angels sang in celebration of you on the day of your birth.

To those who see only division and separateness,

I remind you that a part is born only by bisecting a whole.

For those who have forgotten the tender mercy of a mother's embrace,

I send a gentle breeze to caress your brow.

To those who still feel somehow incomplete,

I offer the perfect sanctity of this very moment.

Compassion

Lately I have been listening to a lot of Thich Nhat Hahn ('Being Peace' and 'Touching the Earth') and have just read His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 'How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships'. These works have made me aware of a meditation on love and kindness called Metta. According to the research of Karen Armstrong's 'A History of God' and the work of the Dalai Lama, Metta, or loving kindness, is the basic teaching of all major religious traditions.

Karen Armstrong was recently awarded the TED Prize and is asking for people to affirm the 'Charter for Compassion'. The charter is a call for morality and compassion to return to the center of spiritual and political activity. According to the teachings of Armstrong and H. H. Dalai Lama compassion is actually the heart of religion and politics. The golden rule, for instance, was taught by Confucius 500 BC. He said: "Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself."

Watch Karen Armstrong's TED Talk:

http://www.tedprize.org/karen-armstrong/

Affirm the 'Charter for Compassion':

http://charterforcompassion.org/share/the-charter/

Read more about 'How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships'.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Expand-Love-Widening-Relationships/dp/0743269683

Read excerpts from 'Being Peace':

http://www.cit-sakti.com/peace/peace-being-peace.htm

Check out the guided meditation from 'Touching the Earth':

http://touchingtheearth.posterous.com/

Finally, here is a quote from 'The Confucian Analects':

"Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness."