I need your help. I am writing for your help because I know that you believe, as I do, that it is insufficient to merely study the Dharma. The tremendous implications of what we learn must motivate us toward the application of our hearts and minds to the duties of compassion and action required of us by love. You are all dear to me, and I know that nearly all of you are at this moment facing tremendous personal challenges – and I know that there is not one person among you, or even in our entire community, who is not hard pressed at this very moment. Yet you remember, too, that that the problems you face you do not face alone, and have in so many ways nobly purposed yourself for the benefit of others. This encourages me in my own efforts. Here, where I live, where my family has lived for generations, slowly, over decades, we have witnessed the gradual ruination of our community and a threat to our way of life. Entire towns – once thriving communities – lie upon the plains broken and empty. Even in our cities, so many homes and neighborhoods are broken and empty. We are no longer so easily shocked at violence, hate, sickness, poverty, addiction and all kinds of hopelessness. And through my work at the Meadowlark Herald I understand that across Colorado, and even across our nation, and our world, there is a similar crisis. Though such crises are not new, and do periodically arise, they are none the less very troubling and require attention if they will not become profound difficulties that endanger our very humanity. There is now a remarkable opportunity to work with others of like mind and heart, in a community of compassionate love. There has begun an endeavor of unprecedented scope and enterprise through Sadhana. I, myself, have joined with some of my other friends, both Buddhist and from many faiths, to lay the foundation of a Sadhana Ashram, and would at this moment now ask your help, as well. We will be applying modern theories of assembly and mass production to acts of compassion. This will help magnify the efforts of ordinary people, like you and me, who have only minimal time, minimal training, minimal skills, minimal wealth and minimal strength. In manufacturing, it has been proven again and again that such magnification is possible that with proper organization, and I have no doubt that we may multiply our efforts to do more than the sum of us might do together. This must and will be a world-wide effort, and we will address both the infrastructural and individual needs of our global and local community with novel efficiency and effectiveness. You are already aware of that profound duty that invests your indomitable spirit with a nobility greater than your heritage, and so I will not waste words encouraging you toward that duty. Instead, I will only affirm my own belief that loving friendship is the whole of the holy life, in the hope that we may practice masterfully together! I will not mislead you: though minimal effort will be required of you, and specifically designed to your individual skills and abilities, it will be regular in nature and challenging. Yet I believe, as you do, such challenges are ultimately wholesome and strengthening, and am sure you will find the work itself amply rewarding: as you help your community, you will be helping yourself. If you will honor me by your help with the Sadhana Ashram, please email me at meadowlarkherald@gmail.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 19:27:36 +0000
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