Peace and love man

12/01/11

Dhammayietra Center for Peace and Nonviolence – Battambong

Bob Maat is a peace activist who has lived in Cambodia for 31 years. He came here in 1979 to do refugee outreach and never left. It is strange to see the thin 57-year old “Polish” white boy from Cleveland, in this environment, but he seems to fit right in. He studies the Buddha here with the monks, speaks Cambodian and English, and walks everywhere, unless he is offered a ride on the road. He never asks for one. One conversation with him and you will feel at peace.

The temples at the Dhammayietra Center for Peace and Nonviolence speak for themselves.

Their purpose as the Buddha said: “I teach only two things – suffering and the end of suffering.” Dhammayietra and the monks serve in the annual Peace walk, help people living with HIV/AIDS and caring for those dying at home, helping young peacemakers through study and volunteerism, and ministering to prisoners who seek a new path. They deliberately seek out areas where there is conflict and suffering.

The walk they make is a metaphor for life as a journey. We cannot stop conflict or fix or cure suffering, but the idea is we “walk” with those who do suffer, letting them know they are not alone and seeking ways to ease the pain. The Venerable Maha Ghosananda founded Dhammayietra on the basis of these ideas.

Bob’s “office” is a small, open temple with two rooms, one on each side. We entered the porch area, and surrounding us were peace posters, photos, quotes, and heroes from all over the world. 

This was a powerful walk into the heart of what troubles Cambodia from the inside out. Torn by years of war and conflict, it is a country broken and trying to heal. No one has been immune to the effects of war in this community. We heard stirring first hand stories of the effects of the Khmer Rouge and their breaking apart of families from a monk, the Venerable Vy Sovichea, who lost four members of his family and he has given his life to the pursuit of peace as a Buddhist monk. He runs the Center, and is responsible for it’s progress.

We then heard the tearful story of Sek Sarom, who has first hand seen the devastation of the war as a child in a refugee camp on the Thai border with Cambodia. Cambodia was stretched between two enemies during the reign of the Khmer Rouge; Vietnam from the East, which used the Khmer Rouge as a proxy army during their gradual decline, and Thailand to the west, who was competing for resources and labor with Vietnam. Thailand utilizes cheap labor and other commodities from Cambodia, but wanted nothing to do with refugees, so they set up camps along the mountainous, northweset border and forced the Cambodians to live there rather than seek refuge in their country. Sek Sarom met Bob as a child, and saw the disappearance of many family members at the behest of the Thai army. She was unable to finish her story because of her tears, and the room was filled with the emotion of many of us who had finally heard too much pain and suffering.

Bob Maat could be mistaken for a “peace-nick” or a hippie because of his language, but his disheveled appearance belies a wise, experienced, Western intellectual who has taken on the calling of the Buddha. He practices Buddhism, eating two meals a day: one at breakfast and one before noon. The three days we were with him he had his peace walk T-shirt and tie-line pants on. An ancient pair of flip-flops adorn his feet, and they are worn from his many miles of walking, which he does so willingly. He is very well-known about the town of Battambong as the “crazy American” and he embraces that role in a jovial and peaceful demeanor. One garners a sense of peace and purpose when speaking with him.

I told Bob about Chea Vanaths talk about “balance” I discussed earlier, and his suggestion for me was to embrace silence. I have a ruckus in the head, as some of you know, and I have been seeking to reconcile my concern for the future with the realities we are facing. The idea of finding a middle space between war and peace, joy and pain, suffering and healing, appeals to me. I see my response should be one of action to counter those I do not believe in with those I do: to lift up, to support, to conserve, and most of all, to listen. Bob explained that to listen, one needs to pursue silence. He also suggested I pursue it immediately and often, and the balance I seek would find me.

So I leave you with this silence, and ask you to reflect on your “enemies,” friends, and loved ones. Peace be with you, today and always.