I've been practicing Buddhism for 39 years. Like every major religious teachings, Buddhism has many schools. My practice stems from Nichiren Buddhism, a teaching started by a priest named Nichiren Daishonon in Japan almost 800 years ago.
I chose this practice because its basic tenet is that any ordinary person can achieve total enlightenment as they are. There is no requirement to become someone you're not. You can become a Buddha, and still be an ordinary person.
I seem to have developed some patience, but can still be stubborn when the occasion calls for it. I'm getting better at figuring out which occasions call for it.
It also seems to have aided me in powers of observation, as well as empathy. In looking upon this latest humanitarian catastrophe, this is one Buddhist's viewpoint of the situation. Because no two bodhisaatvas in this practice are the same.
I realize that the area around Palestine is filled to overflowing with the scenes and history of three major world faiths: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. What genuinely baffles me is why so many sects have fought for this patch of ground for so many centuries, at such cost of lives and civilization.
I don't believe any patch of Earth anywhere can be possessed; only borrowed for awhile. Earth is a living being with their own desires and ways of working that pays no attention to us . Many of us refer to it as "The Holy Land". What Nichiren wrote was this:
"There is no land pure or impure of itself. If the people are pure, the land is pure. If the people are impure, their land is impure."
It's called esho funi. It means the oneness of you and the environment. It's all about real intent in every individual. If you are doing everything you can to relieve suffering, the land you're at right now is pure .
What both Hamas and the hard right government of Israel is doing is not pure. I fear both of them are in a world state of Hell. There are 10 basic world states living beings carry within. From worst to best, they are:
10. Hell
9. Hunger
8. Animality
7. Anger
6. Humanity
5. Heaven , or Rapture
4. Learning
3. Realization
2. Practicing relieving suffering (Bodhisattva)
1. Enlightenment
Hell is Rage, boiling destructive Rage. In the World of Hell, there is only the desire to destroy as many living beings as possible before the perpetrator drowns themself in their boiling caldron of hate.
This was Hamas on October 7th. If they think that mindless butchery of anyone, how matter how old or young, (especially very young!) can wipe out existence, it will fail. The love, the camaraderie, the empathy they showed, leaves behind the glow they gave to those who survive.
To all suffering survivors, please use their strength to not let their violent robbery of physical existence drain you of your humanity. Take the love they gave, embody that determination within yourself, and continue to actively relieve suffering in your own way, but with the lost one inspiring you. That way, those no longer here will not truly die, but exist in the World Mind.
Only the killers driven by Hell will simply break down into basic atomic parts, with nothing left behind of existence. They destroy themselves totally.
The bitter irony is that Judaism and Islam, and Christianity too, claim descent from Abraham. These are deadly family feuds that threaten whole regions, and possibly, the world!
Therefore, Netanyahu had better tread with great caution. If he identifies with hatred towards all the people of Gaza, and presses the good soldiers of Israel to commit similar acts of Rage, then you will make your entire country impure. All that could be left, if this stays unchecked, is a charred open sore on the Earth where no one will be able to set foot at all, until all the memory of its history fades into the mist.