Actionjick
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I was reading an article about a group of Americans who returned to Vietnam to help the government locate some mass graves of Vietnamese soldiers. The Americans were involved in a battle for a hill in 1966 and hundreds of Vietnamese were killed.
One of the Americans had taken part in a prior operation where he had looted a small, rather heavy, metal statue of the Buddha from a Buddhist pagoda. He felt that he needed to return lt so took the statue with him when he went to Vietnam.
He located the pagoda and presented the statue to the Buddhist monk there. The monk looked at the statue thoughtfully and told the American that it was not the Buddha but Bodhisatva. A being who has achieved Enlightenment but has forsaken Nirvana to help others achieve Enlightenment.
The monk then told the soldier it was his karma to keep the statue. The pagoda had been destroyed twice since the soldier looted the statue and it would surely have been destroyed also had the soldier not taken it.
I love shit like that. Not a Buddhist, or anything else actually but I love the concept of karma. I appreciate when veterans return souvenirs to where they belong.
Btw Bodhisatva is one if my favorite Steely Dan songs. Good stuff!
One of the Americans had taken part in a prior operation where he had looted a small, rather heavy, metal statue of the Buddha from a Buddhist pagoda. He felt that he needed to return lt so took the statue with him when he went to Vietnam.
He located the pagoda and presented the statue to the Buddhist monk there. The monk looked at the statue thoughtfully and told the American that it was not the Buddha but Bodhisatva. A being who has achieved Enlightenment but has forsaken Nirvana to help others achieve Enlightenment.
The monk then told the soldier it was his karma to keep the statue. The pagoda had been destroyed twice since the soldier looted the statue and it would surely have been destroyed also had the soldier not taken it.
I love shit like that. Not a Buddhist, or anything else actually but I love the concept of karma. I appreciate when veterans return souvenirs to where they belong.
Btw Bodhisatva is one if my favorite Steely Dan songs. Good stuff!
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