My open letter to Lion’s Roar

A response to Lion’s Roar-a magazine on Buddhism and how it relates to our current lives. To read the article I reference from Tara Brach, click here.

Download the PDF here.

March 20, 2024

After 5 months of complete SILENCE about the horrifying violence being inflicted on the Palestinians of Gaza by the state of Israel, supported by the United States, you finally published one article: “What is Love Asking From Us?” that is lacking and problematic in several ways.

But first - why did it take you 5 months and 4 days, (since the atrocities of October 7th and what has unfolded thereafter) to publish a single word about this? To have had a voice of wise compassion speak up during that time would have been invaluable. Instead, there was an eery, chilling silence. The International Court of Justice has called what Israel is doing to the people of Gaza a “plausible genocide.” Several genocide scholars, including Ray Segal, an Israeli Holocaust scholar, have called what Israel is doing to Gazans a “textbook case” of genocide. But this has not been enough to warrant any mention in your magazine. I wonder why....

HYPOCRISY - DOUBLE STANDARDS

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, within 4 days, you published an article, “Bearing Witness to Ukraine’s Suffering” by Joan Halifax. Less than 3 weeks later, you published another article, “Right Action in the Face of Suffering,” by Dan Zigmond, accompanied by a photo of Ukrainian flags. In it he states, “We have an obligation to see the world clearly and to face suffering head on.”

In the subsequent months, you published an article by Venerable Bhikku Bodhi, “Buddhism, Nonviolence and the Moral Quandary of Ukraine.” In the article, Ven. Bodhi wrestles with questions of violence and

nonviolence, ethical questions raised by supporting the Ukrainian (violent) resistance. And months later, you published an interview with a priest in Ukraine who shared about daily life there.

So WHY, when for OVER 5 MONTHS Palestinians have been “collectively punished” by Israel - massacred, starved, dismembered, buried under rubble, abducted, bombarded, denied food, water, medicine, fuel, electricity, with record numbers of children being maimed, massacred, or orphaned, WCNSF, with full support of the U.S., did Lion’s Roar remain SILENT, for 5 months and 4 days?

In your mission you state: “By bringing Buddhist wisdom to bear on current events—and, of course, perennial human concerns—our work helps point a way forward for us all, Buddhist or not, toward a society that prizes, cultivates, and can uphold universal values like compassion, generosity, wisdom, and peace.”

WHAT HAPPENED? DO PALESTINIAN LIVES MATTER LESS TO YOU? DO ARAB, MUSLIM LIVES MATTER LESS?

And after 5 months and 4 days of SILENCE, you published one article: “What is Love Asking From Us?” by Tara Brach. Towards the end of the article, Brach states, “I realize I have my own conditioning, biases, and places of not seeing....” That is clear. So why wouldn’t you, Lion’s Roar, at the very least, include a multiplicity of voices when you finally decided to publish something about these horrors - ones that our children’s children will read about in history books and wonder HOW we let happen. Where were the voices of dissent, of clarity, of courage, of love, of truth? Were Palestinians so dehumanized, that even so-called Buddhists in the U.S. would not speak up?

I appreciate and have benefited greatly from Tara Brach’s work over the years. I have appreciated her insights and compassion as transmitted in her books, talks, and retreats. It is perhaps precisely because of this that I found it even more difficult and disappointing to read her article. As I ask myself the question Tara Brach poses in the article, “What is love asking from me here?” what I hear is - shed some light on the glaring omissions and biases in this article that may appear innocuous but that contribute to the harmful narratives that have allowed the violent occupation of Palestine, the blockage on Gaza, and the apartheid system in Israel to continue for decades, that benefit no one - not Palestinians, not Israelis, and that sewed the seeds for the atrocities of October 7th to take place, when approximately 1200 Israelis were massacred and 240 taken hostage, and the atrocities over the past 5 plus months, when over 32,000 Palestinians have been massacred (over 13,000 children), over 60,000 wounded, and thousands missing, trapped under the rubble.

FALSE SYMMETRY

This article has no analysis of power and no discussion of proportionality. This “conflict” is not a “conflict” between two equal parties. There is no symmetry here, so to present it as such is inaccurate and deceptive. Israel is an occupying force. The Palestinians are a people living under brutal occupation and in an apartheid state, whose land was stolen in 1948, leaving hundreds of thousands as refugees.

Israel has one of the most powerful militaries in the world, equipped with a nuclear arsenal. It has received over $300 billion (adjusted for inflation) from the U.S. since its founding, most of which goes to the military. Each year, Israel receives $3.3 billion in aid from the U.S. Since October 7th, the U.S. has approved and delivered over 100 arms sales to Israel. The Israeli military has 170,000 active personnel and over 3 million available for army service.

Palestinians, on the other hand, do not have an official state or regular army, but have various armed resistance groups, including Hamas, that are

desperate and determined, that have weapons, missiles and arms, that get support, but there is no symmetry with Israel’s super-power military might.

Every single life is precious. Every single life is precious. Every single life is precious. AND, the amount of death and destruction to Palestinians in Gaza vs that to Israelis - there is no symmetry. To present it as otherwise suggests that Palestinian lives are simply not as valuable as Israeli lives. If 30,000 Palestinians can be killed “in response” to 120O Israelis being killed and we cannot name an aggressor as such, what are we saying? Whose lives are valued more than others?

CAUSES AND CONDITIONS

In the buddha dharma, we understand that phenomena arise due to causes and conditions. We also contemplate the truth of interdependence. These insights gives rise to wisdom and compassion.

This article does NOT reference causes and conditions. It is ahistorical. It makes no mention of the Nakba of 1948 in which more than 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their land, and how this was essential to the founding of the state of Israel.

The article does not mention the Balfour declaration of 1917, and the way British colonial powers decided that the land of Palestine (that was already inhabited) was to become a “national home for the Jewish people.”

It does not mention the ideology of Zionism and the role it plays in perpetuating violence against Palestinians. It does not mention the various reasons Jews were seeking a homeland... causes and conditions...

IGNORING HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Tara Brach states, “My heart asks that I recognize and name as harmful any actions that violate others and create suffering. This includes the violence perpetuated by Hamas on October 7 and the ongoing, indiscriminate killing of Palestinians in Gaza perpetrated by the Israeli government.”

Yes to both of those things. AND, what about the daily violence of living under a brutal occupation - for DECADES? What about the harm caused by living as an inferior class, faced with checkpoints, random arrests, torture, armed “settlers” stealing, plundering, threatening and harming, the violence of living in an apartheid state, the violence of the suffocating blockage of Gaza for over 17 years? What about these harmful actions? Why do you start the story on October 7th? The way you tell it, it sounds like Israel is the one responding to an attack, and it does not address how Hamas was also responding to prior (75 years of) violence. Causes and conditions. Context. It matters.

STRAIGHT UP BIAS

Throughout the piece, every single time Tara Brach mentions the two groups of people, she mentions Jews and Israelis first, and Palestinians second. Every. Single. Time. Considering the fact that Palestinians are the non-dominant group, the oppressed group, this is particularly troublesome, and revealing.

When Brach says, “When Israel, in the process of trying to destroy an enemy that has committed atrocities, kills and displaces a huge portion of the population in Gaza, its violence will only beget more violence,” the assumption seems to be that Israel is trying to destroy Hamas because they committed atrocities. It has become crystal clear that Israeli’s genocidal war is NOT at all about Hamas, it is about securing Gaza for Israel, and eliminating Gazans, either through killing them or displacing them. It is chilling. If Brach wishes to emphasize that violence is not the answer, she could have also said “Hamas, in the process of trying to fight back against an enemy, an oppressor, that has committed atrocities including keeping Palestinians under a brutal occupation, and subjugated for decades...” But she does not contextualize the actions of Hamas in this way. What about dependent arising? Causes and conditions? What about including the fact that a majority of Hamas members are orphans whose parents were killed by the Israeli military? What about looking deeply, and speaking with courage and clarity?

Brach says she supports “peace and safety” for Jews and “peace and liberation” for Palestinians. What about safety for Palestinians? Does anyone really believe that Palestinians are safe? Not just now, but at any moment in time in the last 75 years? The unjust system of Israeli apartheid, occupation, and siege renders everyone unsafe - Israelis and Palestinians. What about - EVERYONE deserves safety.

Towards the end of the piece, Brach makes a call for a ceasefire and several other actions. Brach calls for the return of all Israeli hostages, but she makes no mention of the thousands of Palestinians held captive in Israeli prisons, without reason. Why does Brach not recognize the injustice of Palestinians who have also been taken hostage/captive/ imprisoned and call for their release? And rather than making her wishes for the future for Palestinians and Israelis so specifically, how about “self- determination for Palestinians”?

The photo chosen. Of the tens of thousands of photos you could have chosen, you selected one where you do not see the faces of the two people, who are physically intact, embracing, on the backdrop of smoke and destruction. If you really wanted to evoke empathy in your readers, you would have shown the faces of Gazans, living horrors and losses most of us can only begin to imagine. If you didn’t want to repeat the harm of erasure, rendering a whole people invisible, you would have shown their faces, their eyes.. their grief, their anguish, their resolve, their complexity.. their humanity.

LIVING UP TO YOUR OWN WORDS

WHY LION’S ROAR?

You state:
Our name is taken from a quote attributed to the Buddha: “The proclamation of the truth of the dharma is as fearless as a lion’s roar.” In this context, “Lion’s Roar” expresses the fearlessness and confidence needed to present the profound truths of dharma, by way of any and all skillful means.

“Show, don’t tell.” I wonder if you’ll be able to redeem yourself by returning to those words and reflecting on how your magazine does and does not live up to these ideals, and speaking truthfully. I invite you to amplify the voices of those who are speaking up courageously, who are looking deeply into causes and conditions, who are practicing with fierce and wise compassion...who are grappling with Right Speech, Right Action, Right View, the Precepts.... who are seeking and working towards safety, liberation and a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis... and for all beings... How about inviting in Palestinian voices? Voices from the global South, Arab, Muslim, SWANA, those involved in Palestine solidarity work... buddhists who are active in Jewish Voice for Peace, those organizing within their sanghas.....

I welcome your reply.

With a bow and the deep wish for all beings to awaken and be free,

Mona Chopra