A Lovingkindness Prayer to Oppressors
I’ve been feeling a lot of unease and hopelessness with what’s going on around the world. How our social systems are still perpetuating violence, oppression and suffering to those systematically excluded.
On some nights, I hear screams and wails of loved ones in the rubble. I see oppressors grinning away as if they are going to get away from all of this. These visions give rise to deep hatred for those oppressors.
At that point, I wondered how should I respond to these thoughts? I remembered someone prominent (I’ve forgotten who) said something like we must not lose our compassion regardless.
Which brought me back to metta or lovingkindness. How can we have compassion for these group of people who are perpetuating systems of oppression and violence?
This lovingkindness practice emerged as a result. Here are some instructions:
Think of someone who meets the criteria of an oppressor and bring them into mind. They could range from an egoist boss at work to your Trumps and Netanyahus.
Respond to them with phrases something along the lines of:
May you wake up,
May you wake up to this illusion you’ve created for yourself,
May you wake up and realise the effects of your actions; your karma that you’ve created,
May you empathise with those whom have suffered and harmed as a result of your actions,
May you repent and take responsibility for what you’ve caused
May you commit to reparations.
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Here’s a few things to keep in mind when doing the practice:
When doing this practice we are cultivating radical hope for them to change.
We have to accept the possibility that they won’t change and may get away with everything.
The key here is to maintain and not lose our sense of compassion for all beings.
We don’t have to love them but we have to remind ourselves they also have the capacity for kindness/empathy/Buddha nature/etc. (you get what I mean). They have some element and seed of goodness in them; it’s just too dormant.
To remind ourselves that the people whom we call oppressors are only actors in a system that have raised them in utter ignorance, fear and hatred.
Maybe they came from a place of hurt too and unable to transform their pain into something life giving.
This is indeed not an easy practice so please take it one step at a time. Most metta practices often start with self-compassion or thinking of a loved one as a grounding practice. With this in mind, you can incorporate this practice after you have settled with more comfortable practices.
I sincerely hope that by sharing and encouraging you to try this practice, we may be able to maintain our compassion regardless of what may happen in the months, years to come.
At the very least, we can notice from a distance that these “oppressors” are stuck in their own fog. The question of getting them out still remains. But for me, the first step would be to respond with empathy and understanding.