((PKG))  FAITH /  BUDDHISM   
((Banner:  Buddhism))  
((Reporter/Camera:  Aaron Fedor)) 
((Producer:  Kathleen McLaughlin)) 
((Map:  Woodstock, New York))    
((Main character:  1 male)) 
((NATS)) 
((Robert A.F. Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia 
University))    
Buddhism is a way of educating yourself to actually find 
happiness and terminate suffering.  And it's 2,600 years old 
and it has all kinds of educational methodologies including 
meditation and scientific investigation of reality.  It’s based 
on the discovery of Buddha that reality enables human 
beings to become truly free of suffering.   
((Robert A.F. Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia 
University))   
The Buddhist approach is best articulated in the world today 
by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.  And that is, first of all, 
violence is out and war is out and conflict and disagreement 
is settled by dialogue. 
((Robert A.F. Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia 
University))   
This is a graphic novel that I did with several friends.  It's 
about the Dalai Lama and this is a painting of the Dalai 
Lama and behind him, the seat of government in Tibet, the 
Potala.  And here in '71, I met him.  I was on a fellowship 
from Harvard and then he says, "Oh, here comes my monk.  
Oh, whoops.  What happened to his robes?"   
World leaders, who have used nonviolence, have been 
extraordinarily successful, although the way we are taught 
history because of the high level of militarization of our 
society, we kind of ignore those examples.  But Gandhi was 
a nonviolent leader.  Martin Luther King was a nonviolent 
leader, in modern period.  Many in ancient period.  Jesus, 
you know, was a nonviolent leader.  
((Robert A.F. Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia 
University))   
So, the main way of learning to do nonviolence for the 
individual is to learn to control their own violent reactions, 
which doesn't mean become a doormat.  It just means learn 
to deal with injury directed toward them in a more practical 
way.  We learned to develop patience by restraining our 
reactivity in anger.  So, if we learn to do that internally, then 
we can learn not to respond to violence.  This is the kind of 
training, for example, in America today that the police need 
to be trained in.  How to respond when someone says, "Hey, 
pig," or something, not to then hammer them with a stick and 
break their head or kill them even. 
((NATS))
((Robert A.F. Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia 
University))   
The best way to overcome anger, it's a long, hard job, I can 
say.  I had quite a hot temper, kind of still do, but, so it is, I 
know how hard it is.  But one of the things that helps you 
overcome it with experience is you notice that it always 
causes more trouble than it solves.  Because when I want to 
lose my temper, when I want to get all obsessed with 
something, I kind of say, "Well, I can do it next life.  Well, I 
don't want to really do something harmful because it'll come 
after me in the future.  There'll be no escaping of the 
consequences of that doing.”  And so, I want to become 
enlightened, to be really happy and to help others be happy. 
That's what I want and I'm going to do it and that has 
changed my life. 
((NATS))
((Robert A.F. Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia 
University))    
The actions we should take is free speech, use speech 
freely.  And that's a great thing about our democracy. 
There's freedom of assembly.  There's freedom of speech.  
A policeman is supposed to be the servant of the people. 
The word for policemen in Sanskrit is Rajapurusha, meaning 
the king's man and a king is supposed to be serving the 
subjects, not dominating them.  This is, we know, there are 
different styles of kingship and a good theories of kingship 
like ancient Chinese one about the emperor, ancient Indian 
one, and actually somewhere in even the idea of a good 
Christian king, there's the idea not of divine right but an idea 
of the king's job is to work for them.  And the president is not 
the boss of everybody.  He's the servant of everybody.  
That's the whole point of being a ruler, is you are the 
servant.  "Heavy lies the head that wears the crown," said 
Henry IV in Shakespeare's play. 
((NATS))
((Robert A.F. Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia 
University))   
That’s the Buddha's teaching, "What goes around, comes 
around."  That's what karma means.  And it's a biological 
teaching.  And so, Mother Nature is showing us how we 
must stop being violent against her and against each other 
and then we'll all be happy.  Buddhism wants everyone to be 
happy.  If you are violent and harm others or yourself or 
nature, you will not be happy. Therefore, be nonviolent. 
((NATS))
((Robert A.F. Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia 
University))   
At this moment, when we are rising up in the United States 
of America about the violence committed against the Black 
people, it's very important that those who are rising up in 
protest remember that violence is what they are against.  
((Robert A.F. Thurman, Professor Emeritus, Columbia 
University))   
I'm extremely hopeful because in the overall view of history, 
nonviolence has always been more powerful than violence.  
It's very important not to lose hope and realize that it is your 
right as a human to be happy, have a good time, sing some 
songs and no one has a right to prevent you from doing that.  
And if you keep doing that, sooner or later, other people will 
join you in the choir.  And that happiness is infectious and 
that's the way to win.  Joyful protest, joyful resistance, that's 
what it is.  
((NATS))