How to show a little peace, love and understanding in troubled times

This column features opinions by Winnipeg reverend Sheila Yellowquill, Winnipeg independent filmmaker Nilufer Rahman and Monk Jeewananda of the Buddha Meditation Centre in Winnipeg. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

CBC invited Manitobans to share different insights into keeping the faith and giving grace, during the divisive challenges of the pandemic. Here now are their submissions, in their own words.

Sheila Yellowquill

I am an Indigenous woman and a reverend of the faith and a member of the Ojibwe Nation and Lakota Oyate.

We find ourselves in a pandemic of biblical proportions, where all levels of government have made necessary policies to address this plague. As a result, divisions have manifested themselves; divisions in red, yellow, Black and white, and in all aspects of the societies and cultures under the Canadian flag.

They are affecting First Nations peoples in their respective territories; dividing lines drawn by opinions and beliefs, by religion and faiths, by families and individuals, friends and enemies and by both the heavy hands of dictatorial governments and responsible governments acting in good faith.

But love conquers all. It must and my faith says it will. 

Love the spiritual gifts we have been given, the freedoms and liberties we have (and the desires to maintain them). Love justice and the will to achieve it, in balance for all peoples. 

Make sure that opinion and action do not slip into anarchy, and all parties bear the responsibility to maintain this balance under these trying times, where our beliefs and our cause and fervent desire to achieve them, are so  intense that it has caused many to take direct action.  

Love demands of us to honour and respect one another, to be honest and exercise wisdom in our collective conduct, to achieve a justifiable resolution to this matter, to  exercise the courage and humility to do so, to love God whom you see Him to be and to exercise your religion and faith in love. 

Love conquers all.

Nilufer Rahman

My mom often expresses her gratitude for being loved. 

Anytime someone shows her kindness, she's touched and overjoyed. She says, "since I was young, I wasn't very beautiful or special in any way, but people always seem to like me, and I don't know why." 

But I know exactly why.

In a building where mom once lived, the caretaker was always quite abrupt with her. My siblings and I wondered if he was racist, because mom is a brown-skinned, hijab-wearing Muslim woman. 

There are people in the world who lean into life's trials with love.- Nilifur Rahman

Even though his behaviour was hurtful, mom gave him the benefit of the doubt and didn't judge him harshly. Instead, she decided he was a good person. After all, he took his building duties seriously and did his job well.

She'd always smile and greet him warmly and she even gave him gifts for Christmas. 

Eventually, he softened. He started holding the door open for her. He sometimes engaged her in conversation and shared his own troubles. When dad passed away, he cut his obituary out of the newspaper and posted it on the building's bulletin board in remembrance. He never smiled much, but he was not a smiley kind of guy. He showed kindness in his own way, and that was enough for mom.

There are people in the world who lean into life's trials with love. They are not demanding and are ever-grateful for the goodness of others. They are kind before finding a reason not to be. 

It's not that they're naïve. Just like many of us, they might feel overwhelmed and uncertain about how to end injustice and make the world a better place. They might feel anger or pain or sadness. But in their own corner, they choose grace, and, in doing so, they bring calm and joy to themselves and those around them, even for a short while. 

They find ways to share their own voice. They unconsciously plant seeds of hope. They make the days more bearable for the rest of us. They are the true superheroes of the world.

I know exactly why mom is so loved. Because she is a superhero. 

Monk Jeewananda

Actions of each individual shape the world we live in. Good actions of humans bring happiness and evil actions bring pain. 

When this fact is so obvious, why can't all of us do good actions? 

The answer is very subtle. 

Our actions are threefold; bodily actions, verbal actions and mental actions. All of these actions are based on one thing called 'mind.' The Awakened Buddha profoundly stated the connection between the mind and happiness and pain as follows:

"All actions in this life are preceded by mind. Mind is their chief. They are made by mind. If one speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows one like the wagon wheel that follows the foot of the ox."

"All actions in this life are preceded by mind. Mind is their chief. They are made by mind. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows one like one's never-departing shadow."

Since actions shape the world and one's mind shapes actions, the mind of a person should be well directed. According to the Buddha's enlightenment, the most powerful way to make one's mind noble is to develop it with the quality of 'loving-kindness.' That is why we often talk about mettā (loving-kindness) meditation in Buddhism.

Mettā is the genuine friendship one extends to himself or herself and to others.- Monk Jeewananda

The technique that is used to develop the mind is known as meditation. Meditation heals our lives more than anything else. It helps us find inner peace and calm and is conducive to developing wisdom. Meditation broadens our perspective of life. It helps us see life for what it really is, and experience happiness through contentment and understanding.

Mettā is the genuine friendship one extends to himself or herself and to others. One who is friendly to oneself will not harm himself or herself. One who is friendly to others will not harm others. The friendship that brings benefits to both oneself and others is mettā or loving-kindness.

 In this mediation, one first develops loving-kindness to oneself. 

Then, expand the land area of spreading loving-kindness to include the beings in the neighbourhood where he or she resides. Next, include all beings in the city. Then, include the beings in the province. Then include the beings in the country. Next include beings in this world, and finally, include all living beings.

The person whose mind is well developed with thoughts of loving-kindness can not act, speak or think in a cruel way towards himself or herself and towards others. 

He can only act, speak and think in a compassionate, kind, patient and generous way towards himself or herself and towards others. 

In this way, the mind produces beautiful actions, and beautiful actions design the beautiful world!

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