One of the most learned and highly trained American-born lamas in the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition. He is a meditation teacher and author.
A mountain lion was spotted here this morning at dawn, snuffling at the garbage bin of our in Northern California retreat. All were worried; we read every year of them taking a jogger or hiker. And I wondered: what would a Bodhisattva believer in nonviolence do if attacked? Would one fight to the death, trying to kill the dangerous creature in order to survive, or not? (They are reportedly very hard to escape from by running.)
The scriptures tell us that Buddha, in a previous life at in Nepal, gave himself up to a starving tigress surrounded by starving cubs, and accrued great karmic merits for his further progress towards enlightenment.
So what would a genuine follower of nonviolence do if mugged on a city street–just give in? Even the Dalai Lama, famous for his radical nonviolence stance, has bodyguards, since receiving death threats years back. What if your country is being invaded by ruthless totalitarian forces; should one fight back? Is “just war” a truly valid notion?
Tune in next week to find out.
My greatest fear when I heard that a mountain lion had been seen near the retreat was for the lion. I wondered whether the sighting had been reported, whether the powers that be would come and look for it and kill it before it attacked a human. . . . Running from a predator such as a mountain lion would cause it to see you as prey and then you would have no chance. The best way to protect yourself–and the lion–would be to avoid walking alone in the early morning, or at night. It is highly unlikely that a lion would attack a group of humans. The few attacks that have occurred in CA have been made on lone individuals running in lion habitat. Lions, by the way, and in fact all large cats in the world, are highly endangered.
Rene Breier
We have nothing to fear from nature. Remember it is more likely that you will trip over your own two feet and fall to your death than it is for a mountain lion to attack you.
As an investigator, bodyguard, and use of force trainer for law enforcement, as well as being a Buddhist, this is a topic I have dealt with for a long time. I address this topic from the perpective of protecting others and protecting one’s self. First and foremost, I believe that one must do what’s wise, skillful, and appropriate for the moment. I believe that there is a way to use force with compassionate intention that is helpful rather than harmful. Practice is about reconciling ideals with reality, and then responding to reality with action tempered by those ideals. The use of force training I do teaches how to diffuse and restrain a violent individual with tactics that de-escalate the situation rather than to escalate it, and after personal safety, the subjects safety is the next priority. Much of the excessive violence problems seen in a professional context are due to lack of training. My direct experience is that a properly trained person not only decreases the percentage of excessive violence episodes, but decreases the use of force in every episode. Violence is harmful, an appropriate use of force to stop violence is helpful.