The Search For Enlightenment

I’m sure you will be as relieved as I to hear about the cease-fire that has been announced this evening between Israel and Hamas in Egypt. The Gaza situation has been a long and festering sore in the complicated puzzle that is the Middle East, so any glimmer of hope that a long term solution might be found should be welcomed.

It is sad to realise that over one hundred and fifty people have lost their lives in the recent escalation along the Israeli border. There cannot really be any excuse, on either side, for the almost total lack of dialogue over the past months and years. It almost appears that the current arrangement suits the aggressive nature of both sides.

Despite that, we should all applaud the efforts of Egypt, to bring the protagonists together in an attempt to secure this successful outcome. Working towards World Peace, or Kosen-Rufu as we call in in Nichiren Buddhism, is like making, and mending, a patchwork quilt. But like a quilt, the result can be so much greater that the sum of the parts, and is a beautiful thing to behold.

Let us chant and pray that both sides are prepared to honour their side of the agreement and that the patchwork quilt holds strong while growing ever larger and more amazing.