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okay so um you know here we're talking about the what's going on between Israel and uh
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Palestine or Israel and and the Gaza and uh here in the US we are getting an American view of the situation which is also a human view of
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it we are also getting somewhat of a gazen view of it which is also a human view of it okay I've been to Israel I have many many friends there I've taught
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there over a period of years and I've also been to the ga to Gaza three times so I have little bit of familiarity with the area but right now what I'm going to um
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talk about is some of the uh letters that I've gotten from Dharma friends in these areas and others okay
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so we all know there's a con there's a war going on between Russia and Ukraine so we have Dharma friends in Russia we have Dharma friends in Ukraine they're
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in touch with each other the Dharma uh links these people even though their countries are at War um we also have Dharma friends in Israel
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and okay there's some crossover here so venerable tenzen who I think you know he's he's been here for two three uh two
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winter Retreats yeah so he said he's requesting me to give a talk he said since uh the war in Ukraine he's he's Russian by the way
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um or I should say not Russian he holds a Russian passport just like we hold the passport of whatever country we hold that doesn't mean you have a fixed identity you just hold that
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passport um so since the war in Ukraine started there are many ukrainians who escaped to Israel you might be surprised about that
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but before World War War I there were Jews all throughout that whole section Eastern Europe and Western Russia and especially in Ukraine both of my
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grandfathers are from Ukraine so um even after World War II not you know the Jews that were still alive not all of them left but a number of them left some came
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to America when America let people in um they didn't always after World War II uh and some went to Israel and then uh but
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even now I when I when I was in Russia I met people who are half Russian and half Jewish which is really surprising because I know when I was young we were told that you know the Jews in Russia
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all well this could be true too that they were all um they didn't have any religious freedom that the government really controlled them and so on uh and
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there was a big movement to help them uh leave Russia and get to uh get to Israel so I don't know about Ukraine if they well it was it was a Soviet country then
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so probably the same kind of policy okay so there's many ukrainians since the war started with with Russia who escaped to Israel also many Russians moved there
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especially since September of 2022 running away from possible conscription and the possibility to be sent to war so there were a lot of Russian young men
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who left uh as quickly as they could um you know because they didn't want to be conscripted they didn't want to they didn't feel the war was just or or they
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didn't want to fight as good reason so vable ton says we have many Ukrainian and Russian Buddhist friends there many of them consider themselves as venerable
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students now when another disastrous tragedy is happening in between Israel and Palestine many of these people who have relocated there feel unsettled and
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even shook yeah so you know you leave Russia to flee to Israel thinking that you'll have some security there and Israel has
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a policy whereby I think it's if you have one grandparent yeah maybe one grandparent who is Jewish that no not grandparent
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great-grandparent one great grandparent who is Jewish then uh you can make Alia which means go go to Israel and become a citizen yeah so people may have done
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that so they're fleeing Russia they're fleeing Ukraine because of the war there they go to Israel and then wom this whole attack that happened on
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Saturday that nobody expected and it's um it it's shocking everybody because the Israeli uh military has this reputation for incredible intelligence
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and you know being prepared and nothing gets you know they're on top of everything and uh they had no it seems like they had no Intelligence on this attack at
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all okay so um and then denzen included in his letter a request from support that we received from our dear Ukrainian friend Maria so Maria it seems like
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she's in Portugal at the moment but she may be one of these people who Fred fled Ukraine for for Israel so Maria says Hi I come to you for support it's very difficult these
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days I'm Ukrainian and half Jewish and the news just blows my mind there is a lot of pain on such overwhelming sadness I continue to practice relying on the
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three jewels I have no SAA or friends here in Portugal with whom I can talk about everything happening but we're going to connector with somebody we know in
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Portugal um back to my request perhaps there are fresh teachings that reveal something that uh might just be distracting and uplifting I would be very
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grateful okay so oh and then he said the Tempa will immediately translate the BBC talk that I give into Russian I hope Ukrainian too
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okay now I want to read something from our friend Julia uh who you've seen who made the during the ktina made offer the Rob okay and I've been corresponding with her you
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know during all uh the the whole War too she has quite an amazing attitude and uh I wouldn't say that this is what she writes is uplifting but what she's
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doing is giv giving a Dharma take on what's going on and sharing how uh she deals with it and she has quite a remarkable attitude because she lives in
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denpro which has been bombed multiple times she could easily be killed um she stayed there to take care of her mother who was elderly her mother died but not
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from the war from I think a heart attack or something I don't know what a fire in the house something yeah um but uh Julia is is
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remaining there so she wrote I I wrote her a uh replied to one of her letters and she said I'm so happy to receive your letter and learn that you're well
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and safe she's writing to me I know that you and the whole shasti Abby sa and Community are thinking and praying for us and all sentient beings in states of great suffering and violent
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conflict sometimes I think that I am still alive today solely because you're praying for me and supporting me with your wisdom and compassion words cannot
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even begin to describe how grateful I am and how much I cherish our connection especially now and uh people really do appreciate
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this you may uh remember that a few weeks ago venerable tensen wrote to us uh about one friend Olga in Ukraine and her boyfriend Alexi just got um sent to
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the front lines so we've been making prayers for him for his safety and I pray not only that that he doesn't get killed but that he doesn't kill anybody yeah
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because you don't when you have an when you know about Karma you don't know which is worse you know and it it you know from a karmic Viewpoint killing is
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could be far worse than being killed yeah so uh so tensid had written me in another letter uh that I received and
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said Alexi is still alive but um and it for me me it was so strange hearing you know somebody say Alexia is alive you know it's like if if I write to to
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another friend in America I wouldn't write and say are you still alive you know you just assume that the people you know are alive but to have a
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a a letter begin well we're you know that person is still alive or I'm still alive it's rather shocking when you think about about it you know because we just assume
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that yeah but uh even though we I mean war zone or no no war zone death could happen at any time but especially in a war zone so she uh Julia continued my heart
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is breaking for people in Israel she's in the middle of Deno with bombs being dropped and she's saying my heart is breaking to the people in Israel they've so they've shown themselves good friends
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of my country and Jewish people here are so active in various humanitarian projects they are setting such a beautiful example for all of us it is unbelievable what is happening in their
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country even if you live next to Violent criminals and terrorists your mind yearns for peace and you're in some kind of denial of what they are capable of of
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at any second okay yes that's true and oh and she she says we weren't ready
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Israelis uh weren't ready but actually as a country as a state Israel is in constant Readiness for this kind of thing historically and what they did in
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these three days to retaliate is mindblowing that that that's a whole other topic and it's very shocking to me that our country is not urging Israel to
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have restraint yeah and uh in the past very because the way it is I'm distracting from from this but I
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think it's important um the way hamash is very clever so they're in uh and they're the elected government for
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uh Gaza Strip Gaza Strip is what did they say 140 square miles 2 million people it's one of the most densely populated places on the earth and uh the
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economy is in shatters because uh Israel controls all points of entry and exit and they do that for Israeli safety yeah
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but Hamas has a whole Underground system I mean you see right now Hamas is coming out with these very sophisticated weapons and going right into Israeli uh
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towns in Kim and just shooting people down where did those weapons come from they weren't made in Gaza you know probably came from Iran from who knows
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where else they came but the point is that Hamas had under Gaza which is filled with over 60% of the population lives off of un
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Refugee assistance yeah just for food and so on but under and so they live on the land underneath hamash has a total a whole tunnel
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system where you know they hold all their weapons all their instruments where they hide and uh conduct their movements and so on so that when Gaza is
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being bombed on top Hamas soldiers or whatever you call them underneath are not killed it's the gods and the innocent people the
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civilians who are the ones who are getting bombed okay so yeah okay so Julia continues I've been
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thinking how come so many people want to live in peace and joy nobody wants to die and yet there are still Wars and escalation of conflict all across the
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globe which brings results completely opposite to what we all want why why are as human beings are we doing
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things that not don't just kill the quotequote enemy but harm ourselves and get ourselves killed okay Hamas did this attack on
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Israel you know over a thousand Israelis have died that's probably about the same number of Gins who have died what's the purpose what's the use
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she's asking and I've had that question ever since I was a kid and I heard only one answer which I've heard before which was uh when I
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quoted layi and Lama yesi said they means well dear because when llama would talk about the kindness of others somebody would always ask what about ma what about
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Hitler what about Stalin and L would always say they means well dear and know what yeah but yeah here's here's Julia
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again these people who go out to murder others hug their children in the morning and leave their homes thinking that Exterminating other people will make
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them eternally happy and they can finally live as they please yeah I mean that's what they think they don't go out thinking you
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know I'm going to harm myself and my own family and da D they think you know if I do this I'm protecting my family I'm helping my country we will live in peace
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after this in other words what motivates everybody is simply the wish to have happiness and not suffer but in our ignorance
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we do actions that bring more suffering in the present and create the karma for future suffering so she Julia continues they don't have access to the Dharma they've
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never been taught properly and this alone is heartbreaking in killing and looting and raping they are looking for simple human happiness
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validation achievement they are just misguided about which path to follow and this misguidedness this waste of life and opportunities makes my heart weep I
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understand their motives I feel sorry that they decided to live their lives like that I feel sorry that they didn't have access to good teachers and good teachings which would set their minds on
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the path of love and creativity not death and destruction but I cannot do anything to change their karma I can only change my perspective and replace
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shock and anger with compassion and aspiration to practice so that maybe next life I could actually do something about it something physical something
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tangible so that's the situation many of us are in sitting on the outskirts of it or even living in Ukraine or Russia or
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Gaza or or israa you know what can you do when you're living in a society where people think killing the enemy is a good
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deed and where you are revered as a hero a patriotic hero depending on if you kill more people who are enemies you know and people find they're born in
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certain places you hear this kind of talk all around you even here in this country and for you that is normal and that is virtuous and you pick up your
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weapon and you go out and you kill enemies you know and even people in society who are not in an army but who shoot people people you know the kids
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who do the the school shootings and so on what's motivating them inside their hearts they're miserable they're just trying to be happy but they don't know
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the causes of happiness and the causes of suffering okay and what can we do about it it's very difficult you know if you know some people maybe you can talk to
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them okay but one of my Israeli friends I got an email from her today um when I was visiting there she her uh her uncle and his family they
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live in the West Bank in the occupied territories I wanted to go to the West Bank so we had a Shabbat Friday night dinner with her family yeah and she
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introduced us to the family the uncle would not look at me yeah um the settlers in the west territory you know
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and especially the American settlers because the uh some of the settlers who go there from Russia and so on they're impoverished the Israeli government
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sends them to the West Bank to establish settlements the idea being that if you have more Israelis living in the West Bank than if eventually Israel will
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Annex it right now it's occupied territory they would love to Annex it so they put settlers there but the American settlers Australian settlers British
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settlers the people from um you know countries that are wealthy those people only leave because of this feeling of
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this is our holy land and we've got to support the you know our people and and take this back as our land and they these people
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are some of the woo I they're heavy duty just um yeah because they go there for an idea not because they're impoverished like
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other people move there so she wrote me my my friend who lives in Tel a and you know so what can you do if you know people who have this attitude she said
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that she can't get through to her uncle at all and even in family gatherings the last one that happened she had to leave in the middle of it because she said otherwise I would just have
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exploded you know dealing with her Uncle because he has you know this attitude This Is Our Land these people are on our land you know when we were having dinner
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there there uh there was an alarm you know that they had seen some strangers on the outset of the settlement so her her uncle you know got up he had a gun
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in his belt and he went out and looked and made sure everything was safe came back with his family and finished dinner totally normal not for me but you know okay so
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who continues but the point here is look how she's dealing with what's going around or going on around her yeah she has compassion she's not taking sides
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and hating one side and you know supporting the other she's seeing it as everybody being equal wanting to be alive wanting to be happy and not suffer
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and what is happening on both sides is people's afflictions are just going all over the place and running the show and she wants to help but she realizes as an
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ordinary being what can she do especially with people's minds like her you know uh yeah El's uh Uncle it would be very difficult to get through to a
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person like that so then the then the thought comes well if I practice now and my practice is strong now then in future lives I can I'll have a rebirth such
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that I can continue practicing on the path and as I gain more uh wisdom and more compassion yeah and then of course as
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you go up the five bodh Safa boomies and you attain powers to manifest in different forms and go to different places and understand people's past
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karmas so on then you can really be of a whole lot more benefit so she's saying you know maybe I can't I can't do so much now except keep a calm mind which
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is actually doing quite a lot and keep keeping the people around you calm um but if I practice now then in future lives I'll be able to really do
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something yeah and this reminds me I saw a video clip of Mother Teresa once um it was during one time when Israel and
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Lebanon were fighting or I sh say I should say Israel and Hezbollah because that's the the terrorist group in Lebanon but
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um Mother Teresa would Went to went to De beut she's talking to these people trying to help them come to some agreement to stop the violence
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she's sitting there and you hear balms exploding all around you know and she went there voluntarily to try and do something and I thought
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wow would I go to a place where there were Bombs all around yeah I can certainly visualize it in my meditation that's not hard but would I actually go there
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of my own choice knowing that I may not come back but bodh satas have do they do do that you know if they can be of benefit they
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go so seeing all this this is jul again seeing all this death and destruction which just grows worse but day by day makes me feel very fortunate to have met
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the Dharma and you who open my eyes and changed my perspective on life if not for you and for the Shashi Abby sa I too could have been at the front lines now
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killing or torturing people who knows yeah I just wish more and more people listened to the teachings and reflected on transforming their
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minds okay and what she says there you know it's true we don't know if we hadn't met the teachings where we would be and what we would be
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doing yeah we we don't know and so we can't be arrogant saying oh I would never act like that because if you're in that situation and your friend your
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family or friends are getting killed or there's the danger of being taken hostage what would you do you know you know so we can't be arrogant and say oh
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I have so much bodic cheetah and compassion because we've never really been in that situation have we yeah so we don't really know we can practice in our
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meditation you know as and meditate as if that were in that kind of scene and practice generating bodh cheetah and compassion and a willingness to do
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whatever we can even if we have to give up our body in the process we can meditate like that and we should meditate like that but going there how at our level of practice or I should say
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at my level practice what would happen yeah and I know for me at one point when I uh because I was going to Israel I went several times sometimes
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several years in a row this was in The Late '90s Late '90s early 2000s and the the uh it was quite different at that time and rabine was
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prime minister and he was quite good he really wanted the the two-state solution and there were so many israelies who wanted that okay but then there were
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Hamas attacks and um rabine was assassinated and you know the Israelis
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the you know many of them turned became much more conservative much more protective of their own country after that but I know when I was there and
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Buddhism was really you know growing and and all I I considered you know oh I could go there there and teach what an amazing thing that would be you know to
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live in there and and go with the movement that's encouraging a peaceful two-state solution so I thought of it but then some other things happened and uh you
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know it wasn't a serious thought but it did go through my mind but you know if I had gone there then what would be going on in my mind now yeah I I can't see myself ever picking
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up a weapon I don't want to ever go near one but you never know what an Afflicted mind will do
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yeah so um the way hulia is using you know this situation I mean the war in Ukraine is now over a year and a half uh
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she's really using it to motivate her practice and that's what we can all do and to try and keep our minds steady I think it's really wonderful the way the
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Russians and ukrainians and now the Israelis you know people are all in touch with each other there is um somebody in Israel every uh evening
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apparently at 8:00 which is 10:00 our time there doing a taraa and people can join online um I think venerable sadra where
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is she Home Depot huh she's at Home Depot she's at Home Depot oh good um yeah then uh she has the the link you know but it might be a nice way to to
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show some support uh because I'm sure these people are are not getting their guns and going out but are distressed yeah like the rest of
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us okay so um you know that's my suggestions for what we can actually do in this lifetime and uh and of course we
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see that making prayers is really helping people you know just I don't know how much the prayers help but I do know that people knowing that other
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people are praying for them helps a lot yeah just knowing that other people care about you is something um really
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meaningful for everybody yeah
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