Buddhist Peace Fellowship
P.O. Box 3470, Berkeley, CA 94703
(510) 655-6169 • www.bpf.org

An Invitation to Fulfill the Promise of Democracy
To: Delegates of the Democratic and Republican Parties
From: The Buddhist Peace Fellowship and Friends

As American citizens, and as members of the Buddhist community, we thank you for your participation in our country's political process. And we invite you to join with us in contemplating and questioning our government's role in helping to create a civil and compassionate society.

Like most people in the United States, we are concerned about the war in Iraq, terrorism, deteriorating schools, lower-paying jobs, and vanishing civil liberties. We are concerned that politics as usual—whether Democratic or Republican—offers little or no meaningful change of direction. Yet we refuse to succumb to apathy, cynicism, or anger. We seek a politics rooted in the compassion and generosity born in each of us.

As party conventions are convened in the coming weeks, you will choose a presidential and a vice-presidential candidate. You will create a platform of important domestic and international policies. Some small measure of democratic choice still exists within these processes. But we must go further at this critical time.

Buddhist practice and ethical precepts call forth a range of wholesome views that apply as much to society as to individuals. Twenty-five hundred years ago, when Shakyamuni Buddha was enlightened under the Bodhi Tree, he said, "Now I am awakened together with all sentient beings." Each of us is a buddha with the capacity to wake up from the mistaken notions we carry about how the world works. This is not only true about those who agree with us. Each of us is connected interdependently with all others. This understanding leads to a reverence for the preciousness of all sentient life.

There are barriers, however, that lead people and nations astray. From a Buddhist perspective, the "three poisons" of greed, hatred, and delusion cloud our minds and skew our actions:

• Greed is the driving force of a consumer society that supports undemocratic
  corporations that sell us things we don't need. It is also at the root of a system
  in which people, including government officials, are corrupted by the
  seemingly insatiable need for money and power.
  
  
• Hatred gives birth to war, prejudice, and repression. Those forces then
  perpetuate themselves in a ceaseless cycle. Buddhism and other faith traditions
  affirm, "Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love."
  
  
• Delusion, or ignorance, stems from our tendency not to see reality just as it is.
  We are schooled in delusion by an educational system that conditions us from
  early childhood to buy into the false promises of consumption. Delusion is
  also increasingly evident in our ever-more centralized media. And finally, our
  government is no longer of the people, by the people, and for the people;
  rather, it has become a holding company for corporate control. When we fail
  to point out the unraveling of our democratic system, we disempower ourselves.

The current political and economic system is tainted by these poisons. And yet we are called to participate in this very system. The task before us requires presence of mind, awareness, patience, and perseverance. We wish to be part of a polity that is genuinely representative and participatory.

All of us—whatever our faith, political affiliation, cultural background, or economic status—have the same wish for safety and well-being. We may agree or disagree with some of the parties' platforms. We may approve or disapprove of a given candidate. But in this decisive moment, when so much is at stake, we must act with courage.

Traditional Buddhist teachings consider the well-being of the generations to come, seeing the future of parents, children, and loved ones. How will our loved ones be impacted if we fail to take care of the present? This kind of care calls for transformation: personal, political, economic, social, and cultural. Transformation is difficult work. We are often afraid to exchange the familiar—even though it causes us suffering—for a future that is unknown. Our challenge is to step into the unknown and not fear change or discomfort. Our challenge is to understand that principled conflict is often the midwife of transformation.

With these principles in mind, we offer three areas of transformation to apply when choosing and working with political candidates, and when designing policies that will shape lives around the world:

• Transform greed into generosity.
• Transform hatred into love and compassion.
• Transform ignorance into clarity and attention.

Our country's Declaration of Independence says, "All men [and women] are created equal." In Buddhism, the corollary teaching is that within each of us there is innate goodness and wholeness. Actualization of these ideals is only possible in a life-affirming society. Therefore, it is our responsibility to create the social conditions and political structures that enable people to live with dignity, honor, safety, and sufficient resources.

Only by working together can we renew our world. Only by working together can we ensure that our country will fulfill its promise of liberty and justice for all. In our hearts we long to see this vision born anew.