By Love Alone

“Cambodian people have a special way of greeting each other. They cup their hands in a prayerful pose and bow their heads low. This is called sompeah “I bow to your Buddha nature.” When Cambodians greet persons of special importance, they offer a long and warm embrace. Then they gently lift the honored one into the air. This gesture places the honored one’s head above the head of the greeter. It says, “I have deep reverence for your being.”

When I met Pope John Paul II on the Vatican steps, we shared a warm embrace. Then, to show respect, I tried to lift him. But I am a small monk and the Pope is of great stature. My arm was sore for weeks afterwards. Compassion must be met with wisdom! Some people say Buddhism and Christianity can’t live together. I say, “Why not?” Love can embrace everything. I bring love to the Pope, the Pope is happy. He embraces me, and I embrace him. We are fearless together because of love.

The Buddha called the practice of mindfulness “the only way.” Always in the present. At this very moment. From moment to moment. In all activity. In this very step. This is why we say, “Step by Step. Each step is a meditation.” When the children in Providence see me off at the station, as I walk up to
the train, they shout, “Slowly, slowly, step by step, each step is a prayer!” and all the passengers look and smile.

This saying has become famous! The children do not know English well, but they know this sentence by heart. They are the new Cambodia, and already they know the way to peace. In Cambodia, we say, “A journey of 10.000 miles begins with a single step.” Slowly, slowly, step by step. Each step is a meditation. Each step is a prayer.”

~ Maha Ghosananda (1929 –2007) was a highly revered Cambodian Buddhist monk in the Theravada tradition, who served as the Patriarch (Sangharaja) of Cambodian Buddhism during the Khmer Rouge period and post-communist transition period of Cambodian history. His Pali monastic name, 'Mahā Ghosānanda', means "great joyful proclaimer". He was well known in Cambodia for his annual peace marches.

“I have seen Maha Ghosananda in many circumstances: practicing as a forest monk, as a father figure for Cambodian children, as a translator and scholar of fifteen languages, as a meditation master for Western students, as a peacemaker at the United Nations, and as one of the living treasures of Cambodia leading the Khmer refugee communities around the world. In these situations, his heart has remained unfalteringly compassionate and joyful, and he emanates the teachings of simplicity and love. He would and has offered the robe off his back and the food in his bowl to anyone who needs them.

Some years ago, in the dusty, barren heat of Cambodian refugee camps that hold hundreds of thousands of shell-shocked survivors, I saw the greatness of Maha Ghosananda‟s heart and the Buddha’s shine as one. In the camps of the Khmer Rouge, where people were warned not to cooperate at the cost of their lives, Maha Ghosananda opened a Buddhist temple. He wanted to bring the Dharma back to these people who had suffered as deeply as any on Earth. In spite of the threats, when the lage bamboo temple was completed, nearly 20,000 refugees gathered to recite again the lost chants of 2,000 years - left behind when their own villages were burned and temples destroyed. Maha Ghosananda chanted to them the traditional chants as thousands wept.

Then it was time to speak, to proclaim the holy Dharma, to bring the teachings of the Buddha to bear witness to the unspeakable sorrows of their lives. Maha Ghosananda spoke with utmost simplicity to those who had suffered, reciting over and over in ancient the language of the Budhha and in Cambodian this verse from the Dhammapada:

Hatred never ceases by hatred
but by love alone is healed.
This is the ancient and eternal law.

It is this spirit that flows through Maha Ghosananda. If he could come out of this book, he would smile at you or laugh with sparkling joy. Because he cannot, you will find him in these words, the quiet simplicity and truth that underlie his loving presence.” ~ Jack Kornfield