Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Buddhist
Even What We Think Matters. A Zen Teacher Reflects on the American Presidential Election

Even What We Think Matters. A Zen Teacher Reflects on the American Presidential Election

Last updated on: November 12, 2016 at 9:04 am by James Ford

Even What We Think Matters. A Zen Teacher Reflects on the American Presidential Election 2016-11-12T09:04:09-08:00 James Ford

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

From my friend, the Zen teacher Josh Bartok. Reprinted with permission…

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Martin Niemöller, Protestant Pastor in Nazi Germany

Dear ones,

Like so many of us, yesterday I was too paralyzed by sadness, grief, and terror to be able to do much more than stumble darkly through my day—on very, very few hours of sleep. I am still terrified, still grieving, and still sad beyond words—but amid my disorientation and incapacitation I can begin to think about first steps forward in the service of the sangha of all beings.

What is happening in the US is not, tragically, new. It’s been here since the founding of the country—but it’s now rising up like a tsunami with undeniable force. And, of course, we’ve seen it elsewhere. In the 1940s, in Budapest, Hungary my Jewish father’s family was killed by Nazis. Ultimately, I think the transgenerational trauma of that event in part led to my dad’s suicide in 2008. And I know I still experience the transgenerational traumatic effects of it, especially and renewedly now. Truly, the karma of all actions ripples and resonates throughout space and time. This is the principle that lets us actualize our bodhisattva vows.

What we do matters. What we don’t do matters. What we say matters, and what we don’t say matters. Even what we think matters.

It is very, very clear to me that we need each other more now than ever before. The sangha, larger and smaller, needs us. People of color, Muslims, Jews, women, girls, and LGBTIQ people need us. I need us. We need us.

I am not an expert in social justice, activism, or fighting racism. I am not experienced in being part of spiritual leadership as my country begins to solidify as a dystopian fascist oligarchy. I really don’t know what to do.

But is clear that doing nothing, saying nothing is a default on the debt of gratitude I owe to the Buddha, the Dharma, and all beings.

Holding the space of grief and fear for myself and others, bearing witness, hurting when it’s time to hurt, living from love in every way we can—all of this is profoundly important, essential, life-sustaining, grounding, and of real power for the Way. Our spiritual practice is more urgent now than ever before. It can give us the possibility of reorienting choicefully moment by moment, encounter to encounter, to love, to simple kindness. It will let us be undestroyed amid the destructive powers of the world.

But that is not enough. Me being undestroyed is not enough; you and I being undestroyed is not enough. Indeed, nothing will be enough—but we must not take false refuge in not-enoughness, and we must not let the insufficiency of each response deter us from all. We can’t take false refuge in our own okayness or in the okayness that is not our own.

Doing what we can, when we can, in the amount can, we can begin to requite the debt we owe to all beings.

So what should we do, what can we do? I don’t know… AND, amid that not-knowing, here’s something a Facebook friend, Rob Santos, wrote:

****

“As a well-privileged white guy, I will not be forced to make an action plan. If I do nothing for four years, I know I’ll be spared. I can afford to do nothing if I choose. Being a good liberal, I can rest comfortably in an armchair and launch knowing criticisms of how fucked it all is, without once getting up and contributing bodily energy to protecting those who are more exposed, to resisting Trumpism with my actions, not just my words.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

1) Spent time to contemplate my options independently, before asking you others what to do. Did my best to imagine the possibilities, what I’m capable of, who I’ll need to ask for help, a timeline, etc.
2) Asked others for input and revised my plan based on that.

Here’s what I have so far:

1) When I witness acts of hate and marginalization, move to the side of the victim and invite them to a safer place.
2) To the extent that it’s reasonably safe, spoil the moment for the aggressor with my words, I.e., tell them “that’s not cool/that’s racism/you’re abusing a stranger.” Speak so they and others can hear. Drop a note a shame on them, to create some inner friction for them in future moments.
3) Volunteer with an organization that already exists to fight Trumpism and protect those most under threat. Show up, do actual work, and give money.
4) Signal boost. Echo and promote the ideas and voices of others who are not as easily heard as I am.
5) Take opportunities to compassionately engage other cis white men to challenge themselves to state their individual plans for action.”

******

I need you. The sangha needs you. The world needs you, personally—your own your own energy, your own time and effort, and your own showing up.

I hope to see many, many of you there.

We can’t do it—any of it—by ourselves, and nobody else can do it for us.

With a heavy heart,

And profound appreciation for all you,

Josh

(The Reverend Josh Rosenthal Bartok is a Zen priest and abbot of the Greater Boston Zen Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is considered one of the leading figures among the new generation of Western Zen teachers.)

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 12, 2016

Finding Myself Thinking About Revolutions

Next Post

November 13, 2016 WHAT NEXT? A Meditation on the Election of Donald J Trump as President of the United States of America

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Christmas Carol Abolitionist African-American Ahmadiyya Alan Watts Aldous Huxley Allen Ginsberg Amedkar Jayanti American politics American Zen Anaheim Zen Sangha Anglican Annie Besant April Fool Armageddon Art and Religion artificial intellegence Atheist Awakening B R Ambedkar Barlaam & Josaphat Beatnik Between Bhagavad Gita Bible biography birthday bodhisattva Bodhisattva Precepts Book burning Book of Common Prayer Book of Mormon Brahmo Samaj Buddha Buddhism Buddhist Buddhist Lord's Prayer Butterflies Calendars cartoons cat ChatGPT Chicken Tortilla Soup choices Christian atheism Christian mysticism Christian origins Christian Science Christian Zen Christianity Christianity and Buddhism christmas Christmas Truce Christopher Isherwood Church of Later Day Saints Cinco de Mayo circus covenant critical thinking culture D. T. Suzuki Dalit Buddhism Daniel Defoe Desert Fathers and Mothers dharma talk Dogen Donald Trump Dongshan's Five Ranks Dorothy Day dream Duty Easter ecology Edwin Arnold emptiness Empty Moon Zen Network Episcopal Church Eternal Now Ethics evolution existentialism Faith fantasy Fathers Day film film review fire Five Ranks Folk music food Form and emptiness Four Seals Francis of Assisi Francis Xavier Free thinker friendship George MacDonald Gerald Heard Glenn Taylor Webb God Good Friday Gospel of Gospel of Mark Gospel of Thomas grace Graduate Theological Unioin Graduate Theological Union Guanyin H R Blyth Hakuin Ekaku Hanamatsuri Hanukkah Harada Yasutani Zen Heart Sutra Henry David Thoreau Hermann Hesse Hinduism History and Religion history of religion Holy Spirit home Hospitality Icon Ides of March Isaac Newton Islam Islamic mysticism Jack Kerouac James Luther Adams Jiddu Krishnamurti Joan of Arc Johannes Gutenberg John Donne joke Judaism justice karma kensho King James Bible koan Koun Yamada Kyoto School Lewis Carrol Liberal Christianity Liberal Religion Life Plan Community Liminal literature Literature and Religion Liturgy Lord's Prayer Love Mahatma Gandhi Mahayana Martin Luther King Jr Mary Baker Eddy Mary Magdelene Mary Oliver Mayflower Compact Meditation memories memory metaphor money money and religioin Mormons Mother's Day movie review mysticism mythic Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church New Thought Nichiren Buddhism Nonduality not knowing Omar Khayyam Pacific School of Religion pagan Palm Sunday Passover peace Pentecost perennialism Phantastes Philip Kapleau philosophy Pilgrimage poetry Poetry and Religion politics Prayer Precepts Printing Press prophecy prophetic spirituality psychology Pure Land Queer religion queering religion Quietism Ram Mohan Roy rebirth recipe Relationships and religion religion religion and history Religious syncretism Resistance Retirement Retreat review Rissho Kosei Kai Ritual Robert Aitken Roshi Robert Ingersoll Rohatsu Romani religion Rosie the Riveter saints samadhi SanboZen Sangha Satyagraha science science and reigion science and religion science fiction seminary sermon Sesshin Sex and Religion Shinran Sikh Sikh tradition silence Social Justice Socially Engaged Buddhism Society and religion Soto Zen soul spiritual community spiritual practice Spirituality Sufism Suicide superstition Taoism Television Teresa of Avila Thanksgiving theological schools Theosophy Thomas Merton Time Transcendentalism Transcendentalist Trinitarian Trinity Uncategorized unitarian Unitarian Christianity Unitarian Universalist Universalism Vajrayana Vedanta Walking war Willa Cather William Ellery Channing wisdom women and religion women in religion World Teacher Writing zazen Zen Zen Center Zen inspired retriement zen meditation Zen Precepts Zen women

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Song of Solomon is also called Song of Songs.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE