Remaining Human

My friend, Bonnie, recently posted a link on her blog to an article written by Michael Stone. Remaining Human: A Buddhist Perspective on Occupy Wall Street. Worth reading the full text but here is a small excerpt:

In the Lotus Sutra it is said that the quickest way to becoming a Buddha is not through extensive retreats or chanting but through seeing others as a Buddha. If you see others as Buddha, you are a Buddha. You remain human. You no longer try to get beyond others.

… If you can’t trust that you have the possibility to do good, to see everyone and everything as a Buddha, then how will you even begin? Our Buddha nature is our imagination.

These protests are reminding us that with a little imagination, a lot can change. We are witnessing a collective awakening to the fact that our corporations and governments are the products of human actions. They aren’t serving anymore, and so it is in our power and in our interest to replace them.