Netra P. Sharma, PhD
Abstract
Peace has been the most crucial issue of every human being and every society. Happiness for an individual and for the progress of society depends on maintaining peace and tranquility. Every individual loves peace. Everyone wants to live in a peaceful society.
This article attempts to reveal the surest way from inner peace to world peace. At the same time, this research finds the links how the application of vipassanā meditation is a proven technique for attaining inner peace thereby achieving world peace. Gautama the Buddha discovered this technique of meditation, which helped him for the ultimate awakening. In most of his teachings, Buddha has emphasized that the practice of vipassanā will uproot mental defilements, which are, according to Buddha, the causes of suffering. Once a person overcomes suffering, he realizes inner peace. Inner peace reflects outward, which helps to inspire peace and harmony in outer world. Thus, world peace can be achieved through inner peace. This research study presents the details of this postulation.
The concept of peace differs among scholars. Some define peace as absence of violence. Others argue about this as a limited vision. According to them peace is something indivisible. Peril anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere. In a wider understanding, peace is the nature of every sentient being. Being peaceful is abstaining from any type of violence such as physical, emotional, mental and so on. If a person attains a state of peace, he or she could be an inspiration to all. The people who are unable to realize peace inside are suffering from mental defilements. This research talks about how mental defilements can be uprooted, how a person finds the peace of mind and how inner peace reflects outer peace.
Key words
Vipassanā, mind purification, loving kindness, compassion, Inner peace, world peace.
Introduction
Human longing for peace is as old as humanity. Peace is the establishment of order within a man in his psychological, emotional, and spiritual life. Peace is the greatest aim towards which every human being strives whether knowingly or unknowingly.
Buddhism is deeply associated with inner peace and world peace. Every image or statue of Buddha sitting in meditation inspires harmony and peace. Buddhism is widely regarded as peace studies in academic arena. Ahiṁsā (non-violence) is the very first precept of Buddhism. The historical Gautama Buddha asked his awakened disciples to visit places and spread the message of peace and non-violence. A good amount of research has been conducted exposing the association of Buddhism and peace. Schools and colleges are introducing Buddhism in their academic syllabi. However, some link is still missing, that is why the people are deprived of peace of mind and there is a lot violence going on in human society.
The research question here is: why are people not being able to experience peace of mind? What are the causes of suffering? Why there is so much restlessness and stress? Why is the society still far away of maintaining peace? There are countless institutions, which are focused on social peace building. The government is very much concerned about it; still the police and army are not being able to maintain social peace. Why is the pursuit of peace not working? This research attempts to uncover the missing link so that it will facilitate inner peace and world peace.
The objectives of this study are to identify the causes of suffering and restlessness in human beings, to introduce how regular practice of Buddhist way of meditation may uproot the sufferings and helps people to realize inner peace and how peaceful individuals become compassionate towards others and help others to attain peace of mind.
Vipassanā meditation is regarded as the source of inner peace. It is because vipassanā meditation practitioners, during their practice, go deeper into their own mind, analyze things in detail and discover the actual causes of suffering and how to uproot the same. Once the root cause of suffering is uprooted, peace and harmony and understanding of the things as they are remains. Once the practitioner experiences inner peace, it reflects outside in society. As a person experiences peace of mind, it will ultimately contribute to wider peace, ultimately to world peace. Gautama the Buddha is the epitome of this postulation. This research study uncovers these ideas in detail.
This research study is based mostly on library research. The research works or scriptures or articles will be explored for identifying and locating relevant information, analyzing what you found and then developing and expressing the research question at hand. Peace begins from within.
Sila, samadhi and panna are the three pillars of vipassanā. Sila is the foundation on which Samadhi builds up and finally develops panna. The practitioner cannot attain panna without the purity of sila, without the deepening of samadhi. With the arising of panna, the mind is tranquilized and mental turbulence is transformed to calmness.
Overview of Existing Literature
Vipassanā can be translated as ‘insight’, a clear awareness of exactly what is happening as it happens.”[1] The purpose of vipassanā meditation is to give the meditator insight into the nature of reality.
The actual word for meditation is bhawana or dhyana meditation in Buddhism is probably older than Buddhism itself. Buddha has said that he discovered meditation as the direct way to uproot mental defilements and experience inner peace.
Peace is first an individual achievement; then it grows into a collective achievement. Finally, it becomes a universal achievement. Dalai Lama has said, ”Through inner peace, genuine world peace can be achieved. In this quest, the importance of individual responsibility is quite clear; an atmosphere of peace must first be created within ourselves, then gradually expanded to include our families, our communities, and ultimately the whole planet.”[2]
It is in the mind that peace, love, harmony or hatred and violence start. The mind is where people sow the seed of hatred. If they sow the seed of peace and love, naturally, it will produce a tree of peace and love when it germinates and blooms.
Indian spiritual master Sri Chinmoy has said, “Peace is first an individual achievement. Then it grows into a collective achievement. Finally, it becomes a universal achievement.”[3]
In Johan Galtung: A Pioneer of Peace Research, it is mentioned, ”peace is something we make with our adversaries, not with our friends.”[4] Here, peace is understood as something between a person and his enemies. This is mostly the Western way of understanding peace. The Eastern understanding is that peace begins within and it reflects outwards.
In International Journal of Peace Studies, Theresa Der Lan Yeh presents Buddhist vision of peace in the light of peace studies. The author states, “Buddhism has long been celebrated as a religion of peace and non-violence.”[5] The author further states, ”The true value of non-violence, compassion, and altruism advocated by Buddhism would also inspire all people on the path of peace.”[6]
Theresa has applied Buddha’s key principle of understanding life and the world namely the teachings of Dependent origination. Understanding this concepts would help people see things as they are. Once they see things as they are, they would never follow violence for petty benefits.
Thich Nath Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist Monk is actively working for maintaining the social peace. He says, “The peace we seek cannot be our personal possession. We need to find inner peace which makes it possible for us to become one with those who suffer and to do something to help our brothers and sisters…”[7]
The origin of Buddhism’s approach to inner peace and outer peace has not been explored yet. It is worth exploring from where peace emerges and how does this happen inside a person and how it ultimately reflects in outer world.
Peace begins inside and reflects outside
Peace begins in a meditation practitioner and it reflects in his family, friends and larger society. Buddha awakened to inner peace and he wanted it to extend it to world peace. A Buddhist approach for attaining peace in the outer world is first by attaining it within oneself.
Vipassanā works in matter of fact ways. It aims the complete purification of mind and arising of wisdom so that the practitioner may attain total freedom. Vipassanā gives strength to smile in desperate situations and fulfill one’s responsibilities. As soon as people learn to live in peace with one another, there will be nothing to disturb their tranquility. The only destination of peace in us is peace among us.
Vipassanā meditation is a technique of training the mind or simply learning to observe thoughts without being involved with them. During the course of meditation, the practitioner goes on stilling the mind by focusing on breathing, body sensations or thoughts, analyzing the phenomena and learning to observe them with equanimity. By sitting quietly and doing nothing, the mind goes through the process of purification. It becomes alert and watchful.
One cannot share something, which one has not. One cannot teach something which one knows not. One cannot train others if he or she is not trained in the first place. The same applies in the case of peace. If one has not experienced peace inside, he or she cannot teach, train or share peace to the outer world. In Buddhism, an individual in the course of practicing vipassanā meditation experiences peace and thereby he or she is able to share it to the outer world.
Peace follows meditation as surely as day follows night. Meditation is an individual practice. Any practitioner can have different experiences. However, there are some basic understandings each practitioner should keep in mind and stay observant.
Meditation, like carpentry, sailing or any other skill, has its own vocabulary which, to the beginner, is bound to seem like a code. One of the challenges is most of terms are in Pali, the language of the time of Gautam Buddha. Other terms are developed by Nagarjuna, Asanga and other scholars in Sanskrit. In this research essay, an attempt has been made to decipher Lord Buddha’s terms, phrases and quotes in original Pali and Sanskrit sources.
The Pali form of the term is jhana, the Sanskrit term is dhyana. It has found its way into Chinese as chan, into Korean as Seon, into Japanese as Zen, and in Vietnamese as thein.
Some of the reflections about meditation are the researcher’s personal, practical experiences, although it has been made a point of relating them to standard Buddhist doctrines.
According to Buddhism, peace begins from within and it expands in outer society through the practice of compassion. By knowing anitya, duḥkha and anātma, a person’s suffering gradually comes to end; as a result, he/she realizes inner peace. Buddha says, “All conditioned phenomena are impermanent”; when one sees this with insight-wisdom, one becomes weary of dukkha (i.e., the khandhas). This is the path to purity.”[8] Once the mind goes through purification, inner peace reveals itself.
End of suffering is beginning of peace. While overcoming suffering, one becomes sensitive or feels concerned towards others who are still suffering. The practitioner becomes compassionate towards all living beings. Then the compassionate person helps others to get rid of suffering. As inner peace in a person grows, people around him would be inspired. Inner peace develops globally. Social peace always begins with inner peace. Inner peace has a ripple effect; it expands in to social peace.
The Practice of Vipassanā for Peace
How vipassanā meditation is applicable for maintaining social peace is the focus of this research study. The classical understanding about peace may be equally important as the modern understanding of the fact. The scientific and sociological researches approving the classical thoughts on meditation will also be equally important. This study attempts to present these three dimensions simultaneously.
There are simple ways to understand vipassanā. This meditation is like a recipe. If a person simply reads the recipe, even if he understands all the terms, he can’t get any flavor or nourishment from reading theories or techniques of meditation. From reading, one can acquire śrutamayī prajñā, i.e., wisdom acquired from outside. This may not help the practitioner to attain inner peace. For experiencing peace of mind, one has to attain cintanamayī prajñā that is thinking, contemplating and analyzing the wisdom listened or read in books. Finally, on has to attain bhāvanāmayī prajñā, i.e., wisdom acquired by experience. Vipassanā meditation helps the practitioner to attain bhāvanāmayī prajñā, which is the source or origin of experiencing inner peace. Attaining such wisdom begins with application of mindfulness or satipatthana.[9]
The core practice of vipassanā is establishing or being mindful in four domains: mindfulness of the body (kāyānupassanā), mindfulness of feelings (vēdanānupassanā), mindfulness of mind or consciousness (cittānupassanā) and mindfulness of Dhamma (dhammānupassanā). While practicing vipassanā, the practitioner is expected to watch sensory experiences constantly in order to prevent the arising of cravings. Nonjudgmental observation of craving or hatred may lead to the experience of equanimity.
During the practice of meditation, the practitioner learns not to identify oneself with anything, stay aloof and detached. All the benefit is constant realization of infinite peace and bliss. The realization of Oneness with everything is like falling in love with everything. It feels like being with one’s lover or beloved each moment. The practitioner feels intimacy and love with each and everyone. Nothing else than meditation gives clearer picture about what is real or significant in life and what mere illusion is. The Buddha says, “A hundred years of life of a heedless person is less worthy than a meditative person’s life of one single day.”[10]
A consistent practice of Vipassanā breeds a peaceful experience, happiness, social justice and harmony, a sense of oneness with existence. But whatever specific focus we might be taking in the context of social justice and peace, one common thread connecting all of it is our practice of meditation. The challenge is what kinds of hearts and minds are we bringing into this interconnected work for change. In practice, the focus should be on continually intertwining both inner and outer liberation. The consequence is an unwavering peace of mind.
While going through Buddha’s sermons, one comes to see that real wealth is not material wealth and real poverty is not just the lack of food, clothing or a house. Real poverty is something else. It is the belief that the purpose of life is to acquire wealth and owning things or achieving higher posts. As Buddha suggests, real wealth is not the possession of property, but the recognition that our deepest need as human beings is to keep developing our natural and acquired power to relate to fellow human beings.
Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh applied a motto his whole life: Peace in oneself, peace in the world.[11] This saying touches our hearts, soothes us and encourages us. These words give a direction to many people’s life. The richness of the motto is striking. The energy in the words lead the reader to think about the lives of people they admire. These inspiring words motivate readers to apply it in their own on-going spiritual journey.
Vipassanā practitioner realizes he or she is not separate from the world. When they bring more peace to their mind and body, then there is more peace in the world. Venerable Hanh writes in The Heart of Understanding: “When you produce peace and happiness in yourself, you begin to realize peace for the world. With the smile that you produce in yourself, with the consciousness breathing you establish within yourself, you begin to work for peace in the world.”[12] Compassion is the inevitable outcome of meditation.
A Rabbi has stated that ‘Our sages say: “Seek peace in your own place.” You cannot find peace anywhere save in your own self. In the psalm we read: “There is no peace in my bones because of my sin.”[13] When a man has made peace within himself, he will be able to make peace in the whole world. This is an understanding that extends across religious traditions.
Humans will never have peace in society until they recognize that ends are not cut off from means. Ultimately one can’t reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree. The tree always carries the quality of the seed. There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.
According to some scholars, peace is defined in terms of what is not present. Inner peace is thought of as the absence of conflict, tension or any kind of disturbance. Peace in the world is defined as the absence of war or violence. Spiritual understanding of peace is more appealing. Inner peace is the presence of stillness and certainty, an opening of the heart, of peace in the world as encompassing reconciliation, good will and justice for all sentient beings.
According to Buddhist understanding, the only way to create inner peace is to practice meditation. By meditation practice, a practitioner realizes peace and happiness inside and he or she will be in a position to share it with the outer world. If one has a smile in his or her lips, then only he or she can share it with others.
Buddha talks about suffering but he also has talked of prābhasvara citta. If the world is filled with suffering, how could the Buddha has such beautiful smile? Why does not all the suffering disturb him? It is because Buddha has enough understanding, calm and strength. It is because Buddha knows how to take care of it and help to end the suffering. Suffering does not overwhelm Buddha. Instead, he becomes aware of suffering and retains his clarity, calmness and strength so that he can help transform the people who are suffering. The ocean of tears cannot drown a person if karuna i.e., compassion is there in his heart.
During meditation, the practitioner attains a sense of equanimity and a right perspective to see people and things gradually develops. Shifting the consciousness from lower level to higher level, one realizes that there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle. It is because one does not live single-issue lives. There is suffering and there are a lot of reasons. Human society has yet to manage equal distribution of resources. As a person goes into meditation, gradually, he or she can see a bigger picture, a larger context, to the efforts to redistribute wealth, power, and life chances more equitably in this world.
The above analysis reveals the practice of vipassanā meditation helps the meditator to eliminate the roots of individual suffering. As soon as he or she is liberated and realizes inner peace, it reflects in outer world. Thus, peace begins within and it spreads outward.
Peace Begins where Suffering Ends
Everyone is suffering whether people know it or not. However, there is a way out of suffering. Understanding suffering is overcoming it. Buddha has instructed how a vipassanā practitioner contemplates on the Four Noble Truths. The practitioner knows ‘this is suffering,’ ‘this is the cause of suffering,’ ‘this is the cessation of suffering,’ and this is ‘The way leading to the cessation of suffering.’ The human being is in turmoil. The major cause of this turmoil is suffering due to mental defilements. Suffering creates turmoil and turmoil further intensifies suffering. Buddha identified the root cause of this suffering, its causes, its potentiality of elimination and the actual ways suffering comes to an end. The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eight Fold Path dawned to Buddha in a state of deep meditation. Buddha suggests that wisdom dawns in the mind while we are in a state of deep concentration and in a state of profound peace.
The craving or clinging to impermanent states or things causes suffering. Clinging to impermanent things only breeds dissatisfaction and pain. This keeps them caught in an endless cycle of birth and death. Buddha explored that this suffering, this cycle of dukkha can be eliminated. He realized the Noble Eightfold Path to come out of suffering. The Four Noble Truths incorporate the whole Buddhist philosophy. Suffering is mostly hidden in sense pleasure. The desire and the hatred causes suffering in this life and consequently suffering arise in future life as well. A fisherman goes to a pond and drops his fishing tool into the water. A fish comes and bites the bait and gets caught. The fish cannot see the suffering that would follow. Looking from the outside, the fisherman can see the whole picture. The fisherman knows what is going to happen to the fish if it bites the bait. However, poor fish is unable to see that whole picture, and thus does not see the hidden suffering. It is same case with human beings. Buddha suggests that we practice vipassanā bhāvana to be able to see what is good and what may lead to suffering.
Another example of the above phenomenon is to look at what happens to ants when they are stuck in honey. Here, unlike mud, the sense pleasures are appealing and there is no incentive to get out either. Those ants that get stuck in honey, would not even try to get out because they are too busy enjoying the honey. Even when the ants are barely stuck in the honey, and can move out of honey, they would not do so because they like the taste of honey. They prefer to indulge in the honey. Just like that, any living being, whether a human or even the lowly worm, likes to indulge in the sense pleasures, and thus are stuck. Being mindful one develops a special observation skill. When one is matured in this skill, he or she learns to see things with clarity. Seeing things with clarity may lead to see things as they are. And ultimately it brings with it wisdom, compassion, love connectedness and inner peace.
Caturbrahmavihāra (The Four Sublime States)
A balanced practice of vipassanā may result in countless sublime states. Four such states, called brahmavihāra, are the four sublime states of mind which, according to Buddha, emerge in the practitioner due to the practice of meditation. The four sublime states are as follows: maitrī, karuṇā, muditā, upēkṣā (love or loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity). Buddha suggests that the meditation practitioner’s mind starts dwelling in these four lofty and excellent abodes. It helps in both ways. The meditation practitioner grows calmer and more peaceful. On the other hand, these qualities would surely develop harmony in society if each and every person would love all beings equally without discriminations; be compassionate to all, rejoice at the happiness and success of others and be even minded, steady or equanimous in facing the difficulties of life.
Dwelling on these abodes, the mind reaches outwards towards the immeasurable world of living beings, embracing them all in these profound emotions. These four emotions, ‘are considered to be the ideal social attitudes, the springs underlying the ideal modes of conduct towards living beings. The great healers of social tension and conflict, the builders of harmony and cooperation, they serve as potent antidotes to the poisons of hatred, cruelty, envy and partiality so widespread in modern life.”[14] During analysis, contemplations on these four lofty states will go together, how the virtues have subtle inter relationships will be explored. Deepak Chopra writes, when we live from the level of pure being, some deepest values of life arise. Quoting from the four brahmavihara, he states that, “Eastern wisdom traditions list four of these values that are most harmonious to human existence.”[15] These harmonious values may lead the society towards harmony and peace.
That is possible because with the practice of vipassanā, the very architecture of the practitioner’s brain is changed. The practitioner develops the areas of the brain that spread kindness, altruistic attitudes and non-violent perspectives. A thorough practice of vipassanā seems helping people not to cling what is pleasant and not condemn what is unpleasant.
In this way, the four sublime states emerging in a meditation practitioner are equally beneficial for attaining peace and maintaining peace in the practitioner himself or herself and to the whole society as well.
Discussion
In the previous sections, it has been examined how vipassana works, how it makes a practitioner’s mind calm and quiet and peaceful. The implementation part of the same is also worth discussing. How Buddha implemented the very philosophy in day to day life, how his disciples followed and are still following the tradition of learning the philosophy of vipassana, practicing it and implementing it?
In Mahavagga Buddha asks his realized disciples to disperse for the purpose of dissipating the teaching of Dharma to as many people as possible. What Buddha says is as depicted below:
Go now and wander for the welfare and happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, welfare and happiness of gods and men. Teach the Dhamma that is good in the beginning, good in the middle and good in the end, with the meaning and the letter. Explain a holy life that is utterly perfect and pure. There are beings with little dust on their eyes who will be lost through not hearing of the Dhamma. Some will understand the Dhamma.[16]
The blessed One again said to the Bhikkhus:
“I am delivered, O Bhikkhus, from all fetters, human and divine. You, O Bhikkhus, are also delivered from all fetters, human and divine. Go ye, now, O Bhikkhus, and wander, for the welfare of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, for the gain, and for the welfare of gods and men, Let not two of you go the same way. Preach, O Bhikkhus, the doctrine, which is glorious in the beginning, glorious in the middle, glorious at the end, in the spirit and in the letter; proclaim a consummate, perfect, and pure life of holiness. There are beings whose mental eyes are covered by scarcely any dust, but if the doctrine is not preached to them, they cannot attain salvation. They will understand the doctrine. And I will go also, O Bhikkhus, to Uruvela, to Senaninigama, in order to preach the doctrine.[17]
By the address of Buddha, it becomes obvious that he wanted to build a peaceful society at large. Buddha was not happy just by making some of his disciples peaceful and happy, he was very much concerned about the social peace building. Vipassanᾱ meditation is the best technique Buddha suggested everyone to attain this goal. Buddha could see very well that for sustainable peace, there should be social justice maintained. If there is inequality in distribution of wealth or services, it will surely cause unrest or agitation in a society. This aspect is revealed in countless suttas of Tipitika.
Buddha lived his whole life spreading dharma, helping people regain peace of mind, helping societies and countries get rid of violence and follow peaceful ways. Buddha’s immediate disciples continued the tradition of spreading dharma, extending metta to all living beings. Metta suttas reveal the same resolution made by Dharma practitioners.
In the contemporary world, S.N. Goenka followed Buddha’s path to establish hundreds of vipassana centers worldwide. Each and every vipassana practitioner feels a deep longing to involve in the mainstream of dharma: attaining peace of mind and helping others to attain the same. One can see very clearly how vipassana is an expedition from inner peace to world peace.
Conclusion
Peace begins in an individual practitioner and it reflects into outward society. The above research study has explored that inner peace ultimately leads towards world peace. It is vipassanā that helps a practitioner to eliminate mental defilements and realize inner peace. The analysis of four states of mindfulness reveals that the surest way to realize inner peace is to practice vipassanā meditation. It has also been revealed that Buddhist way of meditation helps the practitioners to purify the mind by eliminating craving, aversion or ignorance. During the course of meditation, a practitioner realizes the nature of things as impermanence, suffering and no self. Knowing the truth and seeing things as they are is a great liberation. A person realizes inner peace, and his suffering comes to an end. He or she start dwelling in four sublime states. It deepens the peace of mind in itself and it helps creating harmony in society. Thus, the above research clearly indicates that inner peace leads to world peace.
Works Cited
Chopra, Deepak, The Ultimate Happiness Prescription, London: Ebury Publishing, 2009.
Dhammapada Vipassanā Research Institute (Ed.), Taiwan: The Corporate Body of Buddha Education Society, 1995.
Hanh, Thich Nhat, The Heart of Understanding, California: Parallax press, Berkeley, 1998.
Hanh, Thich Nhat, The Sun My Heart, Berkeley: Parallax press, 1988
Theresa Der Lan Yeh, “The way to peace: Buddhist perspective” International Journal of Peace Studies, Volume 11, Nov 1, Spring/Summer 2006.
Hans GB (ed.), Johan Galtung: A Pioneer Peace Research, (Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice), Springer Heidelberg New York, 2013.
Lama, The Dalai, ”Address in San Jose, Costa Rica,” June 1989, published in Buddhist Peace Fellowship Newsletter (Fall 1989).
Mahathera, Ven. H. Gunaratana, “Mindfulness in Plain English”, Taiwan: The Corporate Body of the Buddha Education Foundation, 1991.
The Holy Bible (Abridged version), Weinersmith, Zach, 2015.
Thera, Nyanaponika, The Four Sublime States, Malaysia: Buddha Dharma Education Association, 1999.
Thera, ven. Piyadassi, Buddhist Meditation, Taiwan: The Corporate body of Buddha Education Foundation.
Vinayapitaka, Mahavaggo, Mahakhandho, Marakatha 8.
Yeh, Theresa Der-lan, “The way to peace: a Buddhist perspective,” International Journal of Peace Studies, Volume 11, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2006.
Web sources
Lotus on the Lake: How Eastern Spirituality Contributes to the Vision of World Peace, P. 161, http://www.iop.or.jp/Documents/0111/dorn.pdf
Awakening Together: Peace in Oneself, Peace in the World — Mississippi & Tennessee Events
[1] Ven. Gunaratana Mahathera, Mindfulness in Plain English, Taiwan: The Corporate Body of Buddha Education Foundation, 1991, p. V.
[2] The Dalai Lama, Address in San Jose, Costa Rica, published in Buddhist Peace Fellowship Newsletter ,1989, p. 4.
[3] Lotus on the Lake: How Eastern Spirituality Contributes to the Vision of World Peace, P. 161. http://www.iop.or.jp/Documents/0111/dorn.pdf
[4] Johan Galtung: A Pioneer Peace Research, (Springer Briefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice), Hans GB (ed.), Springer Heidelberg New York, 2013, p. 10.
[5] Theresa Der Lan Yeh,”The way to peace: Buddhist perspective” International Journal of Peace Studies, Volume 11, Nov 1, Spring/Summer 2006.
[6] Op. cit. f.n. number 4.
[7] Thich Nath Hanh, The Sun My Heart, Berkeley: Parallax press, 1988, p. 127-128.
[8] Dhammapada, Taiwan: The Corporate Body of Buddha Education Society, 1995, verse 277.
[9] Ven. Piyadassi Thera Buddhist Meditation, , Taiwan: The Corporate body of Buddha Education Foundation, p. 35.
[10] Op. cit. f. n. 6, verse 110.
[11] https://wakeupschools.org/event/awakening-together-peace-in-oneself-peace-in-the-world-mississippi-tennessee-events/
[12] Thich Nath Hanh, The Heart of Understanding, California: Parallax press, Berkeley, 1998, p. 65.
[13] Bible, Psalm, 38:3.
[14]Ven. Nyanaponika Thera, The Four Sublime States, Malaysia: Buddha Dharma Education Association, 1999, p. 14-20.
[15]Deepak Chopra, The Ultimate Happiness Prescription, London: Ebury Publishing, 2009, p. 53
[16] Mahavagga, I.ii
[17] Vinayapitaka, Mahavaggo, Mahakhandho, Marakatha .