Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the Beatitudes, which is Jesus’ first sermon on the mount, there is an intriguing sentence: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5).

The meek are the gentle people, humbly patient or quiet in nature, especially when under provocation from others. The meek avoid confrontation, don’t fight, don’t grab, and try to maintain the peace at all time.

“Meekness” is similar to “humility” in “humility paramita” (aka ksanti paramita, patience paramita, tolerance paramita, forbearance paramita, nhẫn nhục ba la mật), the third paramita in “Six paramitas”, which are 6 virtues of Bodhisattva to cross over the sea of suffering, to the shore of Nirvana/Enlightenment (Lục độ ba la mật).

Humility paramita means to bear insult and distress without resentment. It is also a gate of Dharma illumination; for with it, we abandon all anger, arrogance, flattery, and foolery, and we teach and guide living beings who have such vices. (Thiện Phúc Buddhist Dictionary).

Humility helps us cross over from suffering to Enlightenment. That, most of us can understand.

But how shall the meek (the humble) inherit the earth?

The way the world has been going, it is obvious that the mean, the cruel, the greedy, the strong have been conquering the world over and over again. Look at colonialism of the Western powers colonizing the smaller countries, oppressing them, lording over them, treating them like third-class citizens in their own home, and today the former colonized countries still have big scars and lingering harmful effects that greatly delay their development, from Africa, to Central and South Asia, to South and Central Americas. Incredible robbery and injustice. (And Vietnam has experienced firsthand the ruthless colonial systems and the bloody resistant wars to beat out the colonial powers, to gain independence and freedom finally).

And look at the 1948 colonial project of Western colonial powers, establishing an Israel state in Palestine and pushing the Palestinians into concentration camps right in their home, for 75 years, until now, with much abuses and land-grabbing from Israel, supported blatantly by the US and EU, including Israel’s current terrorism, war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians for the last three months, while the colonial powers watch on. Like the entire world doesn’t matter to them. My God!

So how shall the meek inherit the earth?

The meek usually don’t fight, but they always rely strongly on God and their connection with God. They often yield and tolerate and forebear, but they are always calm, worriless and fearless in God. From a spiritual point of view, they are extremely calm and strong. They are truly Zen masters of the highest level.

The Zen masters shall inherit the earth. That is, the meek shall inherit the earth, because they are fearless and strong in their heart. People who know them will want to learn from them – How can I have the serenity that you have, I want to learn the secret from you.

If the world has lots of Zen masters because many people learn from Zen masters, become Zen master themselves, and teach other to become Zen masters, the teachings will spread on through layers and layers of masters, and the Zen masters will inherit (conquer) the world, through goodness and not through fighting.

That is how the meek shall inherit the world – because they are truly calm, fearless and strong in their humble hearts. And they shall teach the world to be like them.

Wish we all be humble in heart.

With compassion,

Hoành

© copyright 2024
Trần Đình Hoành
Permitted for non-commercial use
www.dotchuoinon.com