“Dear Mr. & Mrs. 1%”

This via our friend Erica Hamilton: Brother Protection at Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, CA (a practice center in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh), has written a letter entitled “Dear Mr. & Mrs. 1%” — an open letter of sorts from one of the 99%. Written in the parlance of the Occupy Movement (which Brother Protection participated in at Occupy Boston), it is an earnest expression of the monk’s thoughts and feelings. Here’s a snippet:

As a Buddhist Monk I do not have a lot of money or power, but I do feel much responsibility toward the Earth, the people, animals and plants on this planet. We all understand that there is just this one planet in our solar system that is inhabitable. When I look up at the full moon I also look with the eyes of my ancestors and future generations of people of this Earth. I hope they will also be able to come in touch with the peaceful radiance of the full moon soaring through the dark sky. I hope that everyone on all continents will have enough food to eat and access to clean water. I hope that everyone will be able to feel safe in their family, society and country, not having to go through the devastation and the suffering of war. My Christmas wish this year is for all of us to reflect on what can we do to make this a reality and then act on our insights and the insights of scientists on which we rely. We need your help!

Read the rest here.

I wrote a dharma talk about the Occupy Movement during the International Day of Action last year. I recorded it then and posted the video at the blog recently on the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. You can see that here.