Nonviolence

Thanks to Barbara Baty.

Nonviolence
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Nonviolence belongs to a continuum from the personal to the global.... One of the most significant Buddhist interpretations of nonviolence concerns... daily life. Nonviolence... also pertains to the way one interacts with a child, vacuums a carpet, or waits in line. ...Whenever we separate ourselves from a given situation (for example, through inattentiveness, negative judgments, or impatience), we "kill" something valuable....[This] violence actually leaves victims in its wake: people, things, one's own composure, the moment itself.... These small-scale incidences... are multiplied on a social level, and become a source of the large-scale violence.... . . . One need not wait until war is declared and bullets are flying to work for peace, Buddhism teaches. A more constant and equally urgent battle must be waged each day against the forces of one's own anger, carelessness, and self-absorption.

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