Were you surprised about the latest news of abuse coming out of Baghdad? Prophetically, it was being reported from the ‘land between the rivers,’ the Tigris and Euphrates. Known since antiquity as the Fertile Crescent, this piece of original paradise has been no stranger to invasion, strife and abuse. But this is the 21^st Century. We have learned and evolved so much over the past thousand of years since the first invaders spoiled this ‘Garden of Eden.’

But have we? Is this just an aberration of the few as being reported by the officials in Washington? Or are we all truly deep down cruel at heart? Put under the right circumstances will we each react and behave in brutal and heartless ways? As humanity at large, are we burden to keep repeating cycles of war and destruction? What is the crux of all of this? What do you think? And what can you do?

Wake up! Wake your heart and mind from the materialistic sleep of separateness. This is the illusionary reality of duality that separates into the various isms of dualism, sexism, racism, fanaticism, and capitalistic biosphere-destructiveism. In addition, institutionalized words or phrases may help fan the flames of separateness such as the current catch phrase coming out of Washington—“good guys” vs. “bad guys.” There is another primary ism, but it is beyond the scope of this article to go into and that is the scourge and plague of capitalism, which encourages and perpetuates separateness.

If we are not separate then we must be as one. Divine Humanity calls this oneness or as Japanese Shingon Esoteric Buddhism puts it, non-dual interpenetration. This non-dual interpenetration is considered the first stage of enlightenment. It is awakening to the knowledge that our fleshly body, just as it is in its present state of imperfection, is non-dual with all things of creation. This radical non-dualism is one of the primary differences between exoteric and esoteric Buddhism.

Shingon Esoteric Buddhism and Divine Humanity are both based on the concept that the divine resides in everything. Shingon, meaning ‘true word,’ was brought to Japan from China around the year 812 C.E. by the great Japanese prophet Kūkai, posthumously known as Kōbō Daishi. His primary message was that all living things are manifestations of the Sun Cosmic Buddha—Dainichi Nyorai, literally ‘Great Sun:’

“… the original residence, the abode of the Buddha, is within one’s own heart-mind. Home is at the heart of our being, originally pure and endowed with all the qualities of the Buddha, but hidden under the flux of passions and delusions created by the belief that the ego does really exist independent from everything else.”[1]

Esoteric in this context does not refer to secret teachings but to the hidden and profound nature of the teachings, which is the inner realization of the supreme Buddha, not the historical buddha but Mahavairocana Tathagata (Dainichi Nyorai).

Kūkai recognized Six Great Elements that composes all of creation: earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness. And since our body is also the Body of Dainichi Nyorai, these Six Great are within us and symbolically form a stupa within our body. A stupa is a physical geomantic representation of the 5 elements (consciousness being the sixth element): the cube of Earth, sphere of Water, pyramid of Fire, hemisphere of Air and the jewel-form of Space.   

Each of the elements corresponds to one of the five esoteric chakras, which commonly means ‘wheel’ or ‘circle’ of energy. However, the original esoteric name meant ‘discus,’ as in the lethal throwing weapon, with the meaning of destroying the passions that hinder a person’s journey towards enlightenment. This meaning opens up a totally different view of what is most commonly known about chakras as being just ‘wheels’ of energy. This meaning implies the esoteric importance of our body’s energy centers or chakras.

For our discussion, we will focus solely on the first chakra and the issues of separateness. This base ‘discus’ is called the ‘thighs chakra.’ Its element is Earth and is located in the lower part of the body below the navel. This is our survival and safety chakra as well as all of the other basic and materialistic issues of humanity including sexuality. The ‘passions’ that hinder a person from awakening to oneness are the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance as well as in-appropriate sexuality and fear. A person that is spiritually asleep to the interpenetration of the consciousness of creation lives and breathes a world of separateness. And functions solely from the energy of first chakra issues.

Living in a world of first chakra issues, made worst by 9/11, fear is rampant eclipsing freedom with rudeness and arrogance commonplace. Add to this toxic mix the organized exoteric religions and fundamentalist religious beliefs systems that preach blind faith and separateness and you have a fertile landscape for abuse at the very least. In one of the greatest ironies today, the original messengers of what became the religions of Christianity and Islam brought a message of oneness, love and compassion not separateness, fear and revenge. Wake up!

There is one last issue that is continuously poured into our volatile mix of the first chakra. And that is Power. Every person’s conscious mind seeks power away from powerlessness. And to most people, power is external—money, position, influence, things and control of others. So is it any wonder, functioning from the Thigh Chakra[2] with God on your side and being the “good guys,” that a picture would surface of a young woman, pointing and laughing at a masturbating Iraqi prisoner and in another be holding a dog leash and collar on a humiliated prisoner. This all goes beyond the scope of the Geneva Convention and goes to the root viral dysfunction of 21^st Century Humanity. And nowhere in sight is Humanity’s Divinity or Unity.

What can you do? Release the illusion of life by seeing life as a radical non-dualism or, in other words, as an alive consciousness of cohesive inclusiveness of inter-connective oneness. Wake up to your actions and re-actions and help others in the same process. I leave you with a quote from Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”