Election Hangovers and Tibetan Peace Mantras

Karl Rove was using THE math, but it did not add up correctly.  It now appears that all the political capital President Bush had in his back pocket two years ago is little more than a few coins jingling around in his front pocket today.  Rumsfeld is gone, finally.  We can only hope that this is the beginning of spine growth for the Democratic Party.  

I am sure we are all still suffering from election hangovers.  So let’s not talk about it.  It’s over, and we’ll see where things go from here.  

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I recently picked up a CD titled “Shi De:  A Call for World Peace.”  Shi De is Tibetan for “peace that brings happiness.”  The CD is composed of eight mantras that are sung by Dechen Shak-Dagsay, hers being a meditative voice like nothing I’ve heard before.    

The following are the words to the mantra “Shi Wa Lam Kyod,” which means “For Non-violence, Respect and Tolerance Between the People:” 

Verse:  

All the many different peoples of this world

let us be uncompromising in choosing

the path of non-violence to resolve conflicts.

Only then will the peace that brings

happiness rule on Earth. 

Refrain:  

Let us link our hearts

through affectionate friendship

and sincere helpfulness.  

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The inside sleeve of the CD case has these eight questions for the listener to consider:  

How is it that natural disasters based on the lack of harmony between the four elements—earth, water, fire and air—are occurring more and more frequently?  

How long will the environment, the plants, trees and forests, be able to withstand the pressures of human exploitation?  

How can human beings be so cruel to helpless animals?  

Why do powers suppress whole nations and deprive the people of their basic human rights?  

Why is so much suffering caused in the name of religion if all religions are there to help us find the path to peace?  

Why do human beings make the same mistakes today as they did thousands of years ago?  

Why cannot a single day pass without news of some terrible act of war, and why do human beings produce weapons of mass destruction if we all want to live in peace?  

How can we sleep at night knowing how great the divide is between rich and poor?  

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The questions are for us to think about as we move through this life.  A quick answer does not exist.  No answer exists, really, other than the ever on-going thinking that such questions cause us to do.  

(written 12 November 2006)