On Truth

Dear Friends in the Dharma/Dhamma,  

As the secretary of a new interfaith body I am writing to religious organizations of all kinds to invite them to mentally re-open the question of what really happened on that tragic day of September 11^th, from which such a lot of suffering has flowed. Our founding Declaration and Appeal literature is here.  

As I am also a practicing Buddhist, I thought it might be helpful to add some reflections of a more Buddhist derivation, albeit in doing so I am aware that many of my readers will be much more expert than I in what the Buddha said.    

I should also add that I am aware that whatever the truth behind 911 we still need to treat people of other backgrounds as individuals, regardless of their faith or nationality. And we do also need to understand and not hate the perpetrators of 911, whoever they really were. 

One preliminary hurdle I may need to surmount can be expressed in the following objection:

‘Don’t such ‘political’ concerns fall under the heading of matters which are unconducive for discussion within the Sangha?’  

But if as Buddhists we can make a difference  – both through our practice of dispassionately separating what we know from what we don’t (right view, right speech) and through the added-value that people of faith can bring to wholesome non-partisan causes – then maybe the tests we should use are ‘Will this be of service?’ and ‘If we can help reduce the fog of untruth, will this not help to reduce suffering here and abroad?’  

‘Dotted lines’ are one thing, but if we draw too much of a big black line separating a no-go zone of  ‘politics’ (concerning society, the ’external’ world) from ‘spirituality/faith/dharma’ (concerning us, our ‘inner’ worlds) , then perhaps we risk shoring up the illusion of a separate self, unconsciously buttressed as if often is by (highly political) ‘wegoic’ assumptions about our ‘Free West’ society which is being challenged by those bad guys ....  

Another difficulty which some Buddhists raise goes like this:

‘Views are many but Life is short. How can we ever know the truth?’

Assuming that this scepticism isn’t simply directed at those who question the official Bin-Laden-dunnit conspiracy theory of the powerful, I would like to sympathise with this concern. But also to encourage you with my report-back, based on following the 9/11 Truth trail for four years now, that for all the false trails, man-traps and remaining uncertainties, YES we can know some important things for certain (see for example www.911scholars.org ) and that these are enough to make a helpful difference both to our cognitive maps and to our world, potentially.

Greed, hate and delusion are not just nouns, existential conditions, but also verbs – unskillful acts and habits of mind, such as dogmatically attaching to unquestioned and widely promulgated views [or way out ones!] ,  or expressing impatient contempt for ‘losers’ who espouse unpopular views. And on the institutional plane the three poisons keep turning up as collective practices, e.g. the quite normal scam at the start of wars and dictatorships, of trying to delude the world through deceptive reports, irrational scare-mongering and ‘false-flag’ attacks of one kind or another (e.g. Saddam’s non-existent WMD, the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the 1933 Reichstag Fire.).

So fellow Buddhists, May I humbly invite you to adopt ‘beginners mind’ as you read Our Declaration and Appeal (attached). Join us and help us to walk the middle way, dispassionately ‘seeking truth from facts’ (Dalai Lama) and sifting through each next fact or theory we come across without any predisposition either to believe or disbelieve what we are encountering. Of course, that is an ideal: but perhaps the main thing is that rather than shrink reality for our own comfort, we allow ourselves to ‘always be disturbed by the truth’.  

If you would like to respond to this letter, please do, either directly to me on 01738 783677 or at  keith[dot]mothersson[at]phonecoop[dot]coop or better still at a purpose-created Buddhist discussion thread on one of the British 911 websites:

http://www.nineeleven.co.uk/board/viewtopic.php?p=108518#108518 (you will need to register to post, but this usually takes just a few minutes, if you have any problems, let me know.)  

Thank you for reading this. May all beings know peace.  

Sincerely and with Metta,   

Keith Mothersson
Buddhist Representative and Acting Secretary
of All Faiths for 911 Truth