Thich Nhat Hanh Healing in Vietnam The Wonderful World of Gathas

heart to HEARTHeart to HeartHeart to Heart is a new section of the Mindfulness Bell — for you to expressyour thoughts and share your practice on a given topic. In this issue wefocus on the Second Mindfulness Training (of the Five). For the Autumn 2007issue, we invite you to write on the Third; please send your submissions,under 500 words, to editor@mindfulnessbell.org by July 1, 2007.The Second Mindfulness TrainingAware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing andoppression, I am committed to cultivating loving-kindness and learningways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants and minerals. Iwill practice generosity by sharing my time, energy and material resourceswith those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not topossess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property ofothers, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or thesuffering of other species on Earth.AAware of the realities of today’s global economy, I realize that asa U.S. citizen it is impossible for me to live without stealing fromand exploiting someone else somewhere in the world. Though I tryto live and consume mindfully, I know that my own lifestyle restson the exploitation of others. It is, for instance, almost impossibleto buy clothes not made in sweatshops, where the workers (mostlyyoung women of color) are treated mercilessly — forced to worktwelve- to sixteen-hour days, six to seven days a week; paid apittance that is sometimes not even enough to live on; sometimesforced to work unpaid overtime; subject to sexual harassmentby their bosses; and forbidden to form labor unions that mightempower them to work for better conditions. Most likely, the computeron which I write this was also made under such conditions,as were many of the other things I use in my daily life. In orderTto cultivate mindfulness of these grim realities, when I put on myclothes in the morning, I look at the tags on my clothing to seewhere they were made. Then I try to visualize the workers, whilereciting this gatha: “As I get dressed, I remember with gratitudethose who made my clothes, and with compassion, the conditionsunder which they work.”I do try to consume mindfully and ethically where I can— buying recycled paper goods, ecologically friendly cleaningproducts, cage-free eggs, leather-free shoes — but there are limitsto what I can do as an individual. Understanding interbeing, Isee that many of my choices are conditioned by the larger globalsociety of which we are all a part. I cannot buy products that werenot made in sweatshops if they are not available to me when I goshopping — unavailable, because our economy is built on theprinciple of maximizing profits ahead of human and ecologicalneeds. It is a race to the bottom, where corporations compete witheach other, scouring the world for ever cheaper labor, and thirdworldgovernments compete with each other to attract businessby providing this ever cheaper labor. Even my ability to buy thoseethically sound products that I can rests on my own economicprivilege, the fact that I can afford to spend a little extra money— and such economic privilege inevitably rests on a system whereothers lack such privilege, living lives of poverty and exploitation.Understanding interbeing, I see that however mindful my actions,I still participate in a society based on theft and exploitation.Understanding interbeing, I see that if I wish to live a lifewhere I and others do not steal from and exploit others, it is notenough to look at my own individual choices when I go shopping.We must work together, collectively, to change the shape of ourglobal society — to create an economy where, at the very least,everyone has a job where they are paid a living wage, treated withdignity, and allowed to form unions that can give collective voiceto their concerns. The public good must be given greater prioritythan private profit. Only then will we all be able to live in a waythat we do not have to steal from and exploit others.Matthew S. WilliamsReverent Joy of the HeartBoston, Massachusetts, USAThay often says that if you have never gone hungry, you won’tappreciate the value of food. You take your safety, your freedomto move around, for granted. When you live behind locked doors,and don’t feel safe on the streets or walking in the countrysidealone, then you know how valuable is the freedom to move aroundsafely. This is not a freedom that we enjoy in our country, SouthAfrica.I live in a country where it is not safe to leave your doorsopen. You normally lock your doors when you go out, but we haveto keep them locked even when we are at home, because this isthe best time for criminals — they don’t have to break and enter— they just enter. This is not a nice way to live — behind bars ina kind of private prison to keep you safe in your own home.the Mindfulness Bell 37