Being Peace
I remember some years back, going to peace demonstrations; grim faced people with red lettered signs, yelling We want peace! No more war!! We want peace!
I remember coming back depressed and exhausted from these ‘we want peace’ battles wondering why wanting peace was so depleting. At that stage of my life I wasn’t acquainted with any alternative to actively voicing my desire for peace.
What does it mean not to merely ‘want’ peace but to be peace?
In year 2000 I met an Israeli woman, Zohar Lavie, in a small Indian town named Bohdgaya; allegedly the place where the Buddha first reached enlightenment. Zohar and I both arrived in Bohdgaya to sit a meditation retreat.
In Bohdgaya, Zohar met Nathan, a young British man also at the retreat. Meditation at times arouses not only spiritual insight but also apparently love, for in the silence of meditative space, Zohar and Nathan’s hearts connected and they have been together since.
From Bohdgaya, Zohar and Nathan continued traveling together, moving from meditation retreat to retreat, both deeply devoted to the dharma (Buddhist term for ‘the Way’) and the spiritual path.
The Birth Of Sanghaseva
Two years later I again met them in Bohdgaya. They told me that they were on their way to Southern India to visit a leprosy community they had heard about, and to possibly stay and volunteer there. Zohar said: “we are looking for ways we can do something, we want to be of service”.
One year later the couple had organized a unique retreat at that community - a retreat which integrated formal meditation practice with active service; working and connecting with the lepers in various ways. That’s how Sanghaseva was born.
The name Sanghaseva is made up of two words: ‘sangha’ which is a community of spiritual friends, and ‘seva’ which means service.
As written on the Sanghaseva website: Sanghaseva was born from the heart to give back to the world; taking the love, compassion, and wisdom, cultivated on the meditation cushion and spreading them.
“Rather than waiting until we are perfected” says Zohar, “we can use the form of giving, of interacting and engagement, to help others and ourselves”. In the words of Buddhist nun and teacher, Pema Chodron: “we work on ourselves in order to help others, but also we help others in order to work on ourselves.”
The Being Peace Retreat In Israel
Two years and several retreats later, Zohar and Nathan felt it was time to bring the spirit of Sanghaseva to Zohar’s home country Israel.
In October 2006, the first Being Peace retreat took place in Palestine-Israel. Two years later the second one happened. The third ended just recently.
As autumn settles over the hills of Jerusalem, for two weeks a small group of Internationals and Israelis daily pick olives in the occupied territories, working side by side with Palestinian farmers and members of ‘Rabbis for Human Rights’ - an organization that helps Palestinians reach their olive groves safely and tries to decrease violent incidents.
Throughout the retreat, the olive harvest work was interlaced with meditation instructions and spiritual inquiry, personal sharing, and meetings with Palestinians, settlers, peace-workers, and the grandiosity of nature.
“I’m here because human beings are human beings, no matter their color, nationality, or the political scene engulfing them,” said Nurit one Israeli retreat participant.
What is it like to bring the quality of meditation into the harsh reality of the occupied territories? To meet the suffering, anger, threats, helplessness, disdain, cynicism, hardened hearts with kindness?
Nathan says: “This last retreat in Palestine and Israel showed me once again the amazing qualities of human endurance in unbelievable situations. We once again set out with the intention of bringing kind open awareness to all we saw, trying to ‘be peace’ in the midst of conflict. Sometimes the feeling of conflict is obvious, we can really feel it and sometimes it is little more than a point of view which doesn't leave space for another person to have a full life. Is there always a peaceful solution for every uncomfortable scene? I don't know, but it seems from what I saw that just as conflict brings out the worst in us all, it also brings out the best in so many great souls who are acting tirelessly and that are an inspiration to me, not only in the field of peace work but for the whole of life."
"There is a peace in process. This is not optimism speaking. We may or not make it to peace soon, but love and understanding are still getting through the barriers. I feel we should not stop until all the walls of separation are removed between us and the other, in the 'real world' and in our inner worlds of heart and mind. This is real work, healing work, and I thank all who participated and taught me so much on this retreat.”